Why we are working to improve health and wellbeing in Early Years settings

To improve the health and wellbeing of children, staff, parents and the wider community, we are focusing on 8 key themes:

• Physical activity in Early Years settings
• Healthy eating in early years settings
• Oral health in early years settings
• Unintentional injuries in early years settings
• Emotional health and wellbeing in early years settings
• Sustainable practice in early years settings
• Health protection in early years settings
• Best start in life in early years settings

The important role of early years settings in reducing health inequalities

Across County Durham, children and young people have different experiences of health and large health inequalities remain. Data from Public Health England indicates that:

• 25% of reception age children (4 to 5 year olds) in County Durham are overweight or obese compared to the England average of 22.4%.
• emergency hospital admissions caused by unintentional and deliberate injuries in children are worse in County Durham - 152 per 100,000 compared to England's average of 96 per 100, 000.
• there are 26% of children in County Durham with one or more decayed, missing or filled teeth compared to England's average of 23%

There are 457 early years settings including childminders, maintained nursery schools, our day care nurseries and group care providers in the county. This health and wellbeing information will help you to create an environment to make the most of the opportunities for improving and influencing the earliest healthy behaviour and reducing health inequalities. It will also support you to identify good practice, support offers, policies and workforce development needs, reflecting both public health and early years priorities.

How these resources will benefit children in your care

These resources will help you support the children you look after and their families to:

• eat a healthy lunch, packed lunch and healthy snacks
• drink water and milk, not fizzy drinks
• work towards 180 minutes of physical activity every day through indoor and outdoor play
• encourage children to walk, scoot and cycle to the setting with their parents/carers
• have plenty of tummy time
• have plenty of sleep
• learn how to brush their teeth and how important going to the dentist is
• learn about their feelings and ways to express them
• live in a smoke-free home
• live in a safe home free of hazards