Better Health Start For Life

The Better Health Start For Life campaign, led by the National Literacy Trust and funded by the Department for Education, and the Department for Health and Social Care, encourages parents and carers to adopt positive behaviours to boost their children’s early speech, language and communication skills.

The campaign creates easy and accessible resources for parents, carers and early years settings with children aged 0-5, aiming to ensure that all children start primary school with the recommended literacy and language abilities.

Find out more about the campaign by reading our blog to showcase the launch back in October 2022.

Support for parents

There are a lot of ways to support your child to learn new words and develop their language and communication skills. You’re probably doing a lot of them already! Every smile, cuddle, chat and game makes a huge difference.

Parents with children aged 0-5 can visit our Words for Life website. Here you'll find a range of simple, free, fun activities to enjoy little moments together throughout your day.

Support for early year practitioners and local organisations

We support staff to work with families, building parents’ confidence so that they can support their children’s communication, language and literacy skills at home. To get started, download our free resources to share with families, or email hle@literacytrust.org.uk to find out how we can support in your area.