Learning Articles
A collection of articles written by subject matter experts – including parents – across the length and breadth of the Better Start Bradford programme
Charlotte Woodhouse, Early Years Facilitator, shares how Better Start Bradford worked with Bradford Museums and Galleries to develop their early years offer.
Adele Adams, Project Manager of the Better Place project, looks at how their outdoor play sessions helped a young local family.
Mum of five, Francesca, tells us all about her training to become a Bradford Volunteer Doula, how she loved it so much and why she would willingly do it all over again
We had a chat with Emma Rose, who delivers the ESOL for Pregnancy and ESOL with Infants courses in the Better Start Bradford area. We also chatted to two mums about the impact that Emma and ESOL has had on their lives.
Sophie Eveleigh, Contract and Implementation Officer at Better Start Bradford, looks at how the organisation has improved midwifery support in parts of the city.
Grandmother of nine, Shaheena Perveen, received funding from Better Start Bradford’s Happy Early Years (HEY!) Fund to set up her Tiny Toes Soft Play Sessions. In this blog she shares what inspired her to set them up.
Alison Brown, a Specialist Midwife at Better Start Bradford, and Rachel Duxbury, the Breastfeeding Support Project Manager, describe how a project to support women to breastfeed for longer came about.
Edwina Linton, Better Start Bradford’s MECSH project lead, who co-ordinated the development and introduction of the Australian MECSH model in Bradford, discusses the challenges and benefits of this programme for families
In this blog post we learn more about the vital role of the (Born in Bradford's Better Start) BiBBS Community Research Assistant Team and their Perinatal Project Administrators, and what a typical day looks like for them
Our Dads Engagement Worker, Zafar Kayani, looks at how ‘cook and eat’ sessions have proved to be another effective vehicle for dads to learn new skills and bond with their young children.
Dr Rachael Moss and Kathryn Willan from Born in Bradford, discuss a study on whether the midwife-led continuity of carer model improves birth outcomes and maternal mental health in vulnerable women
Grainne Slavin, Senior Communications Officer, shares learning from the highly successful Baby Week Bradford.
Riffat Nasser, Programme Co-ordinator, explains how Better Start Bradford used their Innovation Fund to start new projects.
Gill Holden, Early Childhood Programme Lead at the National Children’s Bureau, reflects on five key messages presented at a unique event about speech and language development.
Richard Scholes, SystmOne product specialist at Better Start Bradford looks at using data systems as a tool for partnership working.
Helen Hall, Early Years Specialist, and Zaibun Nawaz, Early Years Facilitator, share how we supported the development of the Early Adventures: Building Futures, Making a Difference.
Amanda Hall, I CAN Training Co-ordinator, shares how the Early Talk project has equipped early years practitioners with the knowledge and strategies to support the development of speech, language and communication
Nicola Hancock, Contract and Implementation Officer at Better Start Bradford, explains how we brought early years into the Bradford Literature Festival.
Kerry Bennett, Integration and Change Manager, and Student Coordinator at Better Start Bradford talks to two recent student placements, Irsa and Zahra,
Better Start Bradford’s Dads’ Engagement worker shares how he has successfully engaged with dads with children in their early years by providing woodworking classes.
Find out one of the ways we've been developing Bradford's future maternity and early years workforce
Our ESOL for Pregnancy project, delivered by Shipley College, thrived as an online course during the pandemic, with students feeling more able to attend sessions from their homes.
Better Place Project Manager, Adele Adams, shares what the programme is doing to help reduce air pollution around walking routes leading to local schools in Bradford.
The Little Free Libraries is an initiative that brings greater access to books for very young children. Read how Better Place and Better Start Imagine are working together to install 8 Little Free Libraries in our area.
Annabel Mason, Senior Project Officer for Better Start Bradford’s Better Place programme, shares the extensive work that the team have been doing in the community to improve air quality.
Mum of two young children, Mariyam, completed HENRY’s online Cooking For A Better Start course and told us the sessions changed her life.
When Saiqa, 38, joined a Better Start Bradford walking group in 2018, little did she know that a few years down the line she would be a Better Start Bradford Community Champion.
Dr Hannah Swan, Clinical Lead at Little Minds Matter, and Gill Thornton at Better Start Bradford, introduce a campaign promoting the vital everyday interactions between parent and child.
Partners came together on 16 March 2021 to launch the new Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Trauma and Resilience Strategy for the Bradford district.
When volunteer Community Board Member, Salma, suggested creating wellbeing packs for parents at one of our Board meetings, we agreed that this would be a brilliant idea, so we made it happen!
Zara, a mum of four children in Bradford, describes her experience of stepping out of her comfort zone to provide peer support to other families in her area.
Charlie Gray from Horton Community Farm, and Ama Chaney from Grow To School, show how community growing projects can bloom despite social restrictions.
Jane Ellis, Assistant Psychologist with Little Minds Matter at Better Start Bradford, describes how the advice of mums was key to shaping well-being support for other pregnant women and mothers of very young children.
When our regular antenatal provision was put on hold due to COVID-19, we decided to develop virtual classes for pregnant women across the district to ensure they continued to receive professional advice
SystmOne Product Specialist, Richard Scholes, explores of the use of SystmOne as a data collection and reporting tool for a number of Better Start Bradford projects.
How Better Start Bradford is leading the way in developing a continuity of carer model in Bradford.
Dr Liz Pal reflects on her time at Better Start Bradford as part of Health Education England’s Future Leaders programme
The idea that prevention is better than cure is not new, but when thinking about the complexities of child development and mental health, how can we truly be preventative?
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