Healthy Early Years 

The Healthy Early Years programme and award scheme is funded by the Public Health team for Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster. The programme has been based on the success of the Healthy Schools programme across the three boroughs and started as a pilot programme in 2014. The programme is open to all early years settings including Children’s Centres and nurseries, and its main aim is to support and encourage settings to develop and deepen their focus on health and wellbeing for the children and families they work with. 

How the Healthy Early Years awards work

Awards are given to settings to recognise their achievements in supporting the health and wellbeing of the children and families they work with. There are three levels of award:

Bronze: Settings will need to complete the Healthy Early Years Bronze Review Tool to demonstrate that they take a whole setting approach to health and wellbeing including physical activity, nutrition, oral health, emotional wellbeing, safety and immunisations. 

Silver: Once a setting has achieved the Bronze award it can move on to the Silver and Gold Awards. To achieve a Silver award, settings will identify the main health priorities for the children and families they work with and devise new projects, practices and interventions to address these needs. Example health priorities might include healthy weight, emotional health and wellbeing, and oral health. This action plan will need to be submitted using the Healthy Early Years Silver Planning Tool. 

Gold: in addition to holding a Silver Award, the setting will then need to implement their Silver action plan. Using the Healthy Early Years Gold Reporting Tool, settings will need to demonstrate the impact of the activities they have implemented.

FREE support available to registered settings

Health Education Partnership have been commissioned to provide free support to settings working towards the Healthy Early Years awards. Within the team, Julia Bleet and Anna Brennan-Craddock can provide free support to settings to complete award applications at Bronze, Silver and Gold level. In addition, Kim Lambden can provide free support on "Purposeful Physical Play" including staff training, development visits and parent workshops. 

MyTime Active have been commissioned to provide support to settings on the Healthy Eating and Physical Development aspects of the Healthy Early Years Awards. They offer opportunities for you to provide the best food possible and fun active play for the children in your setting through advice, signposting and training. They can assist with snack ideas, planning menus and training on nutritional guidelines for 1-4 year olds.

How to take part

The first step is for a setting to register with Healthy Early Years by completing the next two pages of this online form. Once registered, the setting will receive an email confirmation within two weeks including details of the free support available and information on how to begin working towards the Bronze award.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Tel: 0770 381 4831

Email: anna.brennan-craddock@healtheducationpartnership.com