Baby Week UK turns 10 within the metropolis the place it first started

Leeds is marking a significant milestone because the birthplace of Baby Week UK when the annual occasion for town’s youngest residents returns – and this 12 months celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Running from November 14-20 at venues throughout town, the week goals to showcase the wealth of assist and actions on provide domestically for infants, toddlers, new mother and father and households of kids aged 5 and underneath.

The annual initiative was first established in Leeds in 2016 – the brainchild of Lucy Potter, a former Leeds City Council household assist employee who had travelled to Brazil on a fellowship and wished to copy the success of their UNICEF-funded ‘Semana do Bebe’ undertaking.

Since then, it has grown quick – changing into a registered charity in 2018 and now emulated in 20 different areas throughout the UK, together with Nottingham, Newcastle and Cambridgeshire.

This 12 months’s theme is ‘Healthy Parent, Healthy Baby’ and in Leeds, over 175 actions are set to happen all through the week together with taster classes, well being and wellbeing talks and parenting lessons – all free or at low price.

Founder Lucy, who stays a trustee of Baby Week UK, stated: “It’s unbelievable to see the imaginative and prescient we dropped at Leeds again in 2016 develop on a nationwide scale and proceed to carry companies and sectors collectively to advertise the most effective begin in life.

“This week has become a real one-stop shop to celebrate babies and young children and show a full range of activities and help on offer across Leeds and the UK so parents and carers know where to look for crucial advice and support.”

Activities in Leeds will embody music lessons, postnatal yoga, a nationwide on-line ‘introduction to first aid course’ and a child and toddler takeover day on the Thackray Museum of Medicine.

Leeds kids’s centres, household hubs, libraries and Active Leeds leisure centres are additionally internet hosting over 75 classes between them all through the week.

This 12 months Leeds can also be holding a free nationwide convention for professionals specializing in well being, early years and good observe on November 20, when Leeds City Council and companions may even be launching a brand new 10-year technique to enhance outcomes for 0-5-year-olds in Leeds.

Called ‘Best Start and Beyond’, the technique is collectively led by the authority’s public well being and schooling groups, bringing collectively companions from the NHS and voluntary sector. It units out priorities and actions to enhance well being and schooling outcomes and cut back inequalities skilled by kids aged 0-5 from 2025 to 2035.

The technique will probably be formally unveiled at Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board that morning, earlier than being shared with attendees on the nationwide convention within the afternoon.

Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s govt member for kids and households, stated: “Together with our companions throughout town, we’ve actually blazed a path in our work to lift consciousness of the vital significance of a kid’s first years of life and I’m so happy with the nationwide establishment that Baby Week has turn out to be.

“The week is a real highlight of our Child Friendly Leeds initiative, supporting our ambition for Leeds to be the best city for all our children and young people to grow up in.”

Councillor Emma Flint, Leeds City Council’s govt member for equality, well being and wellbeing, added: “Baby Week 2025 is as soon as once more shaping as much as be action-packed, with a full programme of occasions displaying the dimensions, and vary, of assist provided on this metropolis to younger kids and households.

“To coincide the week’s special anniversary with our new 10-year Best Start and Beyond strategy further reinforces our commitment to doing all we can to make Leeds a happy and safe place and improve outcomes so all children and young people can reach their full potential.”

For full particulars on Baby Week in Leeds, go to https://babyweek.co.uk/leeds/.

This 12 months’s occasion is sponsored by the charity National Energy Foundation, which delivers the Better Housing, Better Health undertaking, providing assist and recommendation to assist households keep heat, secure and wholesome.

ENDS

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