Blackpool Better Start Annual Conference 2024

More Than a Village
What does it take to really change childhoods?

Thursday 14 November 2024

9.30am – 2pm

‘It takes a village to raise a child’, is an often referred-to proverb when talking about early child development. It draws us back to the meaning of community and the importance of collective and shared efforts. But if that’s all it takes, why aren’t we doing it?

This year, our conference will focus on not only what we’ve done over the past 10 years, but how we’ve done it. Because the village is important, but it takes more than that to really change childhoods.

This year, our conference will focus on not only what we’ve done, but how we’ve done it. Because the village is important, but it takes more than that to really change childhoods.

With opportunities for you to interact with live polls and live Q&As sessions, our exciting agenda chaired by Sir Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, includes:

  • Naomi Eisenstadt CB, Chair, NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board, and the first director of the Sure Start unit
  • Chris Cuthbert, Lead, Social Research Institute, University College London
  • Dr Cheryll Adams CBE Ltd, founding Executive Director, iHV (until March 2021)
  • Hilary Kennedy, Chief Executive (Joint), AVIGUK
  • Jean Gross CBE, founding Trustee and now an Associate of the Early Intervention Foundation and a Trustee of ICAN
  • Dr Beckie Lang, Chief Executive, HENRY
  • Professor Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning, University of Cambridge

As well as a panel session featuring:

  • Neil Jack, Chief Executive, Blackpool Council
  • Sally Hogg, PEDAL Senior Policy Fellow, University of Cambridge
  • Professor Leon Feinstein, Director of the Rees Centre and Professor of Education and Children’s Social Care, University of Oxford