Best Beginnings

George spoke to Anna Heuschkel, policy researcher and early years lead at the Centre for Young Lives, about the state of childhood in England and what it will take to close the gaps. From the dismantling of Sure Start to the risks inside the government's 75% school readiness target, this is an honest conversation about what the evidence shows, why it keeps being set aside, and why getting early years policy right is one of the most consequential things government can do.

Reading enjoyment among children is at a 20-year low. Only one in three children now say they enjoy reading in their free time. So what will it actually take to reverse that decline and why does it start in the earliest years?In this episode, Babyzone CEO George Looker is joined by Laura Henry-Allain MBE, creator of Jojo and Gran Gran, the first Black British animation produced for CBeebies, National Year of Reading ambassador and one of only 49 educators worldwide named a Global Master Leader in early care and education.In this episode we talk about: The National Year of Reading and what going all in really means Why parental confidence is one of the biggest barriers to reading at home The Jojo and Gran Gran origin story and what it took to get a yes from the BBC Dyslexia, neurodiversity and a lifelong love of reading Why representation in children's books benefits every child What children understand that most adults have lostBest Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone, the UK's fastest-growing early years charity, dedicated to giving every baby the best start in life.Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday.

The 1001 Critical Days Foundation is one year old. In that time it has allocated £1.5 million in grant funding, published screen time guidance that has been cited internationally, supported the nationwide rollout of Dad Matters and begun advocacy work in Norway and South Africa. For Will Quince, its first ever Chief Executive, it is only the beginning.Will spent nine years as MP for Colchester and served as Minister for Early Education, holding further ministerial roles across health and welfare. He joins George Looker for this episode of Best Beginnings to talk about what the Foundation is building, why it matters and what it will take to make the case for the earliest years stick, not just in Westminster but globally.In this episode they talk about the research the Foundation has commissioned and what it reveals about the state of perinatal support in the UK, why 80% of the human brain is developed by the age of two and what that demands of policymakers, and why the birth rate data of 2026 should be a turning point for how this country invests in families.Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone, the UK's fastest growing early years charity. Every week we speak to the researchers, practitioners and policymakers working to improve outcomes for babies and their families. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and if you found this useful share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Before a baby says their first word, they have already been communicating for weeks. Tracking faces, directing gaze, passing objects back and forth and waiting to see what happens next. These are not random behaviours. They are the foundations of everything language will become.Professor Paul Seedhouse is Emeritus Professor of Human Spoken Interaction at Newcastle University and one of the world's leading experts on the interaction engine: the universal communication system every human is born with that predates spoken language by almost 2 million years.In this episode Paul joins George to talk about what the interaction engine is, why every child must develop it before language can follow and what happens when they don't. They also discuss turn taking, screen time, the role of siblings and why the earliest interactions between a parent and their baby matter more than most people realise.Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone about the first five years of life and why they shape everything that comes after. New episodes every Tuesday.

Sophie Livingstone MBE, CEO of Little Village and Chair of the Baby Bank Alliance, joins George Looker to talk about what essential items really mean for families experiencing poverty. From slings to high chairs, Sophie explains how practical support changes lives, why dignity is central to everything Little Village does, and what it means to design early intervention around families rather than systems.Sophie also reflects on the stigma around child poverty, the collective responsibility we all share for children's futures and what it would take to put Little Village out of business.

Most parents questioning whether they are getting it right are already doing well enough. That is not reassurance. That is what the science shows.Dr Martha is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with children and families. She trained at UCL and the Tavistock, spent 18 years in the NHS and has built an Instagram community of over 290,000 people. Her Sunday Times number one bestselling book is How to Be the Grown Up.In this episode we talk about what babies actually need when they cry, why you only need to be attuned to your child 30 to 50% of the time, how to handle tantrums in public, why your love does not get halved when a second child arrives, why it is never too late to repair your relationship with your child and what she would do if she had a magic wand for parenting policy.Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone, the early years charity supporting families from pregnancy to five.Subscribe for weekly conversations with the researchers, practitioners and policymakers thinking most deeply about how to give every child the best start.

What is fast-paced screen content actually doing to your child's brain? And why does every parent recognise the mood their child comes off a screen in?Professor Sam Wass is Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of East London, leader of the Baby Dev Lab, and one of the psychologists from Channel 4's multi-award winning series The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds.In this episode we talk about why fast-paced content puts children into fight or flight mode, why using screens to calm toddler tantrums can make behaviour worse over time, what your phone is doing to your child's sense of security without you realising and why the thing most parents believe helps children learn is actually the opposite of what the neuroscience is telling us.Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone about what happens in the first five years of life and why it shapes everything that comes after.Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

What does money have to do with how a child develops? Everything, argues Alex Christopoulos, Director of the Aviva Foundation. In this episode, Alex joins George to explore how financial insecurity shapes the environment children grow up in, affecting parental stress, presence and responsiveness in ways that directly impact early development.Alex draws on his background in international children's rights and his work co-authoring a Lancet Commission on deinstitutionalization to make the case that the early years and financial sectors need each other and that the UK consistently underinvests in prevention. He also shares what the Aviva Foundation is doing differently, how the Royal Foundation's Early Childhood Business Taskforce is changing employer behaviour and what the Babyzone and Baby Buddy partnership means for families navigating financial pressure right now.

What if the secret to raising curious, confident children was already in your kitchen cupboard?Sergei Urban is the founder of The Dad Lab, one of the most followed play based learning platforms in the world. With over 10 million followers and 3 billion YouTube views, his content is used in classrooms worldwide including by the Australian government. He has done all of it without a science degree, with a masters in economics and a kitchen cupboard.In this episode, George sits down with Sergei to talk about why hands on play matters more than any curriculum, how to create a home environment that builds curiosity without pressure, the truth about screen time and what he actually did when his toddler got addicted to an iPad, why social media gives children answers when what they need is questions, and what it means to raise children in the age of AI.Whether you have five minutes or a full Sunday afternoon, this conversation will change how you think about play at home.Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone about what happens in the first five years of life and why it shapes everything that comes after.Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

What can we actually know about a child's development in the first year of life? And what should parents do with that information?Professor Emily Jones is Professor of Neuroscience at King's College London, leads the BOND lab at Birkbeck University and is Principal Investigator of BASIS, the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings, which has followed hundreds of babies from six months through childhood.In this episode we talk about the biggest myths around autism, what sleep patterns in babies as young as 14 months can tell us, why neurodivergent parents may naturally be creating better environments for their children and what Emily would most want every worried parent to hear.Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone about the first five years of life and why they shape everything that comes after. Each week George Looker speaks to the researchers, practitioners, parents and policymakers thinking most deeply about early childhood.Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Neil Leitch has spent decades fighting for the early years sector to be taken seriously. As CEO of the Early Years Alliance, the largest early years membership organisation in England, he has seen what happens when families don't get the support they need in the earliest years of life and what changes when they do.In this episode we talk about a freedom of information request that took two and a half years to win and revealed that in 2021 the Department for Education calculated it would cost £7.49 per hour to properly fund early years provision for three and four year olds. Today providers receive around £5.60. Less than the government's own figure, four years on, after double digit inflation and rising costs.We also talk about why 77% of early years educators who leave the sector say they feel undervalued by government, what real education actually looks like, why every child has talent but not every child has opportunity and why the earliest years are the single most important period we consistently underinvest in.Subscribe to Best Beginnings wherever you listen to podcasts and if you know someone who needs to hear this, share it with them.

1 million new neural connections form in a child's brain every single second during the first three years of life.By the time a child turns two, more than 80% of their brain architecture is already in place.And yet, as a society, we invest the least in the years that matter most.That's what Best Beginnings is here to change. In this opening monologue, George Looker makes the case for why the earliest years aren't just a social priority, they're an economic one. And why what happens at the kitchen table matters more than any government programme.Subscribe to Best Beginnings wherever you listen to podcasts and if you know someone that needs to hear this, share it with them.