The Startwell Children’s Centre Award
As well as nurseries, Startwell work with Children’s Centres. Children’s Centres have their own Startwell Award to meet the needs of their service.
The Startwell Children’s Centre Award takes around 2 years to achieve and is reviewed thereafter every 18 months to ensure sustained impact. There are 12 criteria to meet.
A Children’s Centre will be supported by a Startwell Consultant to help them achieve the award. This will involve regular meetings to set action plans and review progress. Children’s Centres evidence their Startwell work by using a Startwell scrapbook. The Startwell Consultant will also observe good practice at their visits to the centre or groups.
The Startwell Children’s Centre Award includes all activities and teams that fall within the Children’s Centre umbrella including health, family support and early years. The Startwell key messages should be built into the planning of all the services the Children’s Centre offers. This allows as many families as possible who access the Children’s Centre to learn about healthy eating and physical activity and hopefully make health behaviour changes within their family/home environment.
Children’s Centres working on the Startwell Award can access our free topic specific centralised training sessions. Our training covers a range of topics such as fussy eating and baby physical.
As part of the award, Children’s Centres have Startwell Champions or Leads that drive the Startwell Award across the Children’s Centres. It isn’t their responsibility to complete the award themselves, but they make sure that Startwell is discussed regularly at team meetings and is making good progress. When Startwell Champions attend local Early Years Networks they should ensure they use this opportunity to share Startwell best practice from their centre and promote the importance of the award in settings.
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New safer sleep guidance for early years settings![]()
The Department for Education and The Lullaby Trust have published updated safer sleep guidance for early years providers, which will be included in the EYFS statutory framework from September 2026. The guidance supports safer sleep practices, including placing babies on their backs in a clear, flat, separate sleep space with a firm mattress and no loose items.
startwellbirmingham.co.uk
Looking for ideas of things you can do in your setting for October? Take a look at our October events blog post where we have linked national events to Startwell messages.
startwellbirmingham.co.uk