Leeds is a city with great strengths to support early childhood development, but a number of challenges too. A range of inequalities persist across the city linked with deprivation levels. These are particularly concentrated in specific areas with long-term related challenges such as access to employment, housing, language and literacy, health and care responsibilities. There is a geographical concentration of deprivation in Inner East and Inner South Leeds, with 24% of neighbourhoods across the city are among the most deprived 10% nationally and 35,000 children in Leeds living in poverty.

The circumstances of our childhood set us on a path that affects the rest of our lives. Children born into disadvantage are more likely to experience poorer health, lower earnings and lower levels of happiness than their peers. But it doesn't have to be that way. If children and their families get the right support, particularly at crucial points in childhood, then it is possible to change lives.

Nesta’s vision is for every child to have the fairest possible start in life, so they can thrive and realise their potential. Our goal is that, by 2030, the UK will have eliminated the school readiness gap between those born into deprivation and their peers. This can’t be achieved by any single organisation in isolation, so we are working with innovation partners to help us realise our vision.

Over the next three years we will be working on a series of different projects in partnership with Leeds City Council (and other Local Authorities in the Fairer Start Local Partnership).

We’re excited to be able to work so closely together and for such a sustained period of time, giving us opportunities to tackle challenging problems – as well as the context, systems and people in Leeds that we will be working with and for.

Our approach aims to combine the deep expertise and experience of Leeds City Council with Nesta’s own expertise in data science, experimental evaluation and design. For example, a priority in Leeds is improving language and communication outcomes. We’ve analysed data on children’s communication and language outcomes, as well as the take-up of the free entitlement to early education at age two, to see how this varies across the city and to identify areas, such as Harehills, where engagement and outcomes are low. Building on this, we’re carrying out an implementation and process evaluation of the delivery of the Peep Learning Together Programme (which helps parents support their children's learning. Additionally, we’ve started exploring how we can provide additional support to families and children on waiting lists for speech and language therapy. This is just the beginning of a long partnership – and we’re excited to share more updates on specific projects in the coming months and years ahead.