Collaborating and convening
We believe that tackling society’s greatest issues can only happen by bringing people together to inspire action and impact. We’re convening and collaborating with people and organisations from across the private, public and voluntary sectors, and from all walks of life, to bring about sustainable change.
We work with numerous patronages, policy and research institutions, charities, early years professionals and members of the public, who share in our mission and actively contribute to the evolution of our work.
Our ambitious goal of transforming society through early childhood will not be achieved by any one person or organisation alone – it will depend on all of us.
The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood
Run by business, for business, the Business Taskforce was created to play an essential role in The Princess of Wales’ work to transform the way in which society prioritises and supports children and the ecosystems around them in their earliest years.
Baby Banks
There are more than 200 baby banks working across the UK, powered by their local communities, providing a vital lifeline for families in all sorts of challenging circumstances. In 2023, in the run up to Christmas, The Centre for Early Childhood worked with the Baby Bank Alliance to encourage members of the public to donate funds, products and pre-loved items, or to volunteer their time, to support their local baby bank.
ADBB Pilot
In 2023, we funded a trial to test the feasibility of implementing a baby observation tool known as the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB). The tool is evidence based, and was shown to be useful in Denmark. We worked with the Institute of Health Visiting and Oxford University to test it in the UK.
The tool focuses on a baby’s social behaviours such as eye contact, facial expression, vocalisation, and their activity levels. It helps practitioners and families to better understand how babies’ express their feelings. This gives important insights into their wellbeing and development.
At the conclusion of the trial health visitors reported positive outcomes, describing the training as “hugely beneficial” and “of great importance” to their practice. As a result of this feedback, we now testing how the tool might be rolled out more widely.
The Shaping Us National Symposium
To help give social and emotional skills the greater priority they deserve The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood conducted a first-of-its-kind global listening exercise, involving experts from 21 countries around the world, to catalogue and identify the skills in this area that matter most throughout our lives.
The results were presented to an audience of cross-disciplinary leaders, child and adult specialists, and global thinkers at London’s Design Museum on November 15th, 2023.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University generates, translates and applies scientific knowledge to close the gap between what we know and what we do to improve the lives of children facing adversity. Members of the Center Leadership Team regularly provide expert advice on early childhood science, policy and practice and played an important role in the publication of our founding report, Big Change Starts Small.
Anna Freud Centre
The Anna Freud Centre is working to transform mental health provision in the UK for children and families. Their team provide ongoing advisory support to The Centre for Early Childhood and play an important role in shaping the selection of resources and further reading which can be found throughout our website. Professor Eamon McCrory, Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre, also sits as a member of our Advisory Group.
Tiny Happy People
The Princess of Wales was proud to collaborate with the BBC on the development and launch of Tiny Happy People, a BBC Education initiative providing a range of free digital resources designed to support parents and carers in developing children’s language from pregnancy to the age of five.
