Building a Movement: Inside Babyzone's Vision for Transforming Early Childhood

On Monday 16th June, Babyzone brought together some of the most influential voices in early childhood, from The Royal Foundation and the Children's Commissioner's Office to on-the-ground practitioners from across the country, for a celebration of their work, as well as an honest conversation about what it really takes to transform how we support families.

What made this gathering particularly significant was how the conversations reflected and validated the latest research in early childhood development, whilst demonstrating the urgent need to move from evidence to action.

The Science is Clear, the Action Isn't

Charles Mindenhall, Babyzone's Chair, opened the evening with a stark reminder of what we've known for decades, but his framing reflected emerging research that's transforming the field. Drawing on the groundbreaking work of neuroscientist Peter Huttenlocher, he painted a picture that should make every policymaker pause: "Every second, one million new neural connections are being made in a baby's brain during the first three years of life—though the actual rate is often much higher, averaging five to ten million connections per second. What's extraordinary is that many of these synaptic connections are actually made in the last trimester of pregnancy, before your baby is even born. By age three, they have a quadrillion connections. Then the pruning begins, keeping only what's useful. Whatever happens in those first three years sets the pathway for the rest of their life."

This neurological reality aligns precisely with findings from Babyzone's recent Brain Development Questionnaire, which surveyed 370 parents across the UK and Singapore. The research revealed concerning gaps in understanding: 33% of parents in Singapore believed brain development is "little influenced by the child's environment," whilst in the UK, significant numbers lacked confidence in their ability to support optimal development.

"Many studies already tell us how important early childhood development is and the long term beneficial impact it has on later childhood and adult life," Charles continued. "The question is: how do we roll this out and scale it across the whole of society? How do we finally do justice to what we've known for the last 50 to 100 years? It's not just one of many big societal problems we have to solve. It's probably the solution to all our other societal problems as well. If we create an environment where babies and toddlers grow up to be productive members of society, they'll become capable human beings able to solve the problems that exist all around us."

This vision connects directly to the Better Purpose targeted review's findings that early childhood interventions can yield returns of £1.80 to £17.07 per pound invested when implemented with fidelity, but only when they address the right elements in the right way.

The London Connection: Bowlby and Attachment Theory

Charles also highlighted the profound London connection to early years research. Whilst Huttenlocher's work was happening in America, another significant piece of research was taking place right here in London, up in Hampstead at the Tavistock, by John Bowlby. Bowlby himself had been sent away to boarding school at a very young age, and was intensely interested in feelings of abandonment, anxiety, and avoidance.

He started working with Mary Ainsworth to gather evidence; she conducted the famous "Strange Situation" experiments, where she put children in a room with toys, brought the mother or carer in, then a stranger, and observed the reactions. She identified different types of attachment: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and anxious attachment. Later, her colleague Mary Main identified a fourth type: disorganised attachment.

All this research culminated in the 1980s and 1990s with neuroscience backing up the psychological research that Bowlby and Ainsworth were doing, creating the foundation for our understanding of how early relationships shape lifelong outcomes.

The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

Joe Lane, Deputy Director from the Children's Commissioner's Office, captured the frustration felt across the sector, his words echoing themes from the latest policy research: "There's almost no one who says early years is a bad idea. But we've ended up in this incredibly strange situation where we talk about these really important years, and yet the policy attention is so disconnected. We have occasional little flurries of activity, but no real breakthrough moment."

His solution resonated with implementation science findings: Stop waiting for policy to catch up. "The only way to really change that is to show it can be done. That's why initiatives like Babyzone are so crucial. They're not waiting for a piece of policy or a budget. They're going out there and making this happen."

This sentiment echoed throughout the room. Vivien Waterfield CBE from Home-Start UK, who works with 50,000 families across the country, knows the daily reality: "The majority of parents tell us they feel quite lonely and isolated, often overwhelmed with parenting responsibilities. But it takes real courage to admit you're struggling. We have to build environments where parents don't feel ashamed to ask for help."

Vivien's observations align with Babyzone's parent survey findings, where over half of respondents expressed fears about how their parenting might negatively affect their child's development. The research revealed that parents feel "a great deal of uncertainty around whether they are parenting 'the right way'"—highlighting the critical importance of supportive, non-judgmental community spaces.

The Royal Foundation's Evidence-Based Perspective

Sarah Hesz from The Royal Foundation, representing the Princess of Wales's Centre for Early Childhood, spoke to why Babyzone caught her attention. Her remarks reflected the sophisticated understanding now underpinning the "Shaping Us" campaign: "I love Babyzone's mission. I love the real-life connections that Babyzone creates. The spaces are phenomenal, and the way Babyzone delivers services to parents who need it most is really extraordinary."

The Royal Foundation's framework identifies six clusters of social and emotional skills, from "knowing ourselves" to "exploring the world", that require nurturing through responsive relationships and enriched environments. Babyzone's approach directly addresses these domains through what the framework calls "play-based learning, structured activities, and social interactions" that help children develop "essential self-awareness, emotional regulation, communication skills, and social connections."

Christian Guy, Executive Director of The Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood, took this further:  "There is an enormous opportunity for all of us right now. This is our time to take this agenda from something that is often seen as a 'nice to have', to something that's seen as an urgent necessity and mission critical to our society”.

His words reflect a broader recognition that the evidence base is now sufficiently robust to support large-scale transformation, but only if we move beyond traditional approaches to embrace community-embedded, relationship-focused models.

Where Connection Happens: Creating Safe Spaces

That's exactly what Babyzone has been building: spaces where vulnerability becomes strength and isolation transforms into community. But perhaps more significantly, they're pioneering what Babyzone's recent research paper terms "Raising Agents, Not Just Thinkers", a fundamental shift in how we conceptualise early childhood development.

Jess Barnaschone, Head of Babyzone Croydon, shared a story that crystallised this transformation: "Last week, I had a mum at a Babyzone session for the first time. Her health visitor had suggested she come. She looked absolutely terrified, sat down next to me during our icebreaker. About halfway through the session, she became quite emotional. She said, 'I just feel really, really safe and really, really cared for.' She'd only been with her own community, getting advice from left, right, and centre, but hadn't engaged with other local families. She realised everyone was feeling the same way—they were all in the same boat with the same worries about being a new mum. She said, 'I'm going to be here every single week.'"

This story exemplifies what Babyzone's research identifies as crucial: creating environments where children and parents feel "both secure enough to take risks and free enough to make meaningful choices." The research demonstrates that in an AI-powered world, success will depend less on what children know and more on their sense of agency—their ability to take initiative, make decisions, solve problems, and persist through challenges.

Paddy Radcliffe, a Babyzone trustee, explained their intentional design: "There are two key things that make Babyzone unique. First, it's very much about parents and children together. It's not childcare where you drop off the kids. It's parents and kids engaging together through music, language, and play. Second, Babyzone makes a real effort to be as accessible as possible, reducing barriers, creating a welcoming environment with no sense of officialdom."

In addition to its in-person sessions, Babyzone also nurtures community and support beyond the walls of its centres. Each Babyzone location runs its own WhatsApp community group, with 1500 families already signed up in the first couple of months. These community groups support families with home learning activities, they can gather feedback quickly and create a sense of togetherness.

The Research-to-Reality Bridge

Whilst practitioners create these transformative spaces, researchers like Kaili Clackson from Cambridge University provide the evidence base. Her message, informed by the latest brain development research, was urgent: "Parents have this misconception that if your child isn't old enough to understand the story or respond verbally, there's no point in reading to them. But even if all they're doing is chewing the pages whilst you point at 'this is a ball, this is an apple'—it matters enormously. Books bring vocabulary and language structures that would never come up in everyday life."

Kaili's work, reflected in Babyzone's Brain Development Questionnaire, reveals significant knowledge gaps. The survey found that Singapore parents rated the importance of book-sharing lower than UK parents, whilst both groups underestimated the connection between early social experiences and later academic achievement. In the "Better grades in school" category, it was clear that parents do not see the connection between early play and later outcomes.

"It comes down to organisations like Babyzone who form that bridge between research and practice," Kaili noted. "They're showing parents what works, demonstrating and encouraging them to take on board the messages we've learned from research in a way that's straightforward and at just the right level."

This support is provided from the very beginning of a family's journey. Babyzone also runs the Baby Buddy app, a trusted digital tool that supports parents from conception onwards. It provides personalised guidance grounded in expert knowledge, helping parents feel confident and informed through pregnancy and the early years.

Lorraine Candy, parenting author and expert, connected this to longer-term outcomes, reflecting the emerging understanding of development trajectories: "All the research I've done on adolescent development, you can trace so much of it back to what happened in the early years. Parents' mental health is just as important as their children's, and that plays out right through to adolescence. The impact Babyzone can make is big by making very small changes—it's that interaction between parents and children that is so important."

Evidence-Based Implementation at Scale

The expansion story validates what the Better Purpose review identifies as critical for effective scaling. Gershom Clarke from Future Youth Zone, Barking and Dagenham recalled: "The partnership started in 2019 when Future Youth Zone hosted a pilot of Babyzone one day a week. Six years later, Babyzone is now operating in seven different sites across the UK. It's amazing to see how an opportunity was scaled to where we are today."

Now the expansion continues north, guided by implementation science principles. Duane Jeffers from Blackburn and Sikander Ali from Wigan both described the excitement building in their communities as new Babyzone centres opened. "The opportunity came up for Babyzone to come north, and we were really excited because the community needed something like this," said Sikander. "Word of mouth is travelling fast—we've seen interest take off from our first session to our second to our third."

Carragh Garrity, Babyzone's North Regional Lead, sees the urgent need firsthand: "There's such a high level of need and deprivation, particularly up north. Families need guidance, tools and strategies to help them get their children school-ready. We can see children struggling with self-care skills, and families expecting teachers to support children when that work needs to happen in the home."

Her observations reflect findings from the Better Purpose review that successful interventions must be "community-rooted" and "culturally responsive", addressing both universal needs and local contexts.

Leon Crosby, CEO of Blackburn & Darwen Youth Zone, captured the broader significance: "It's clearly a national movement now. Anyone who's come into contact with Babyzone has this infectious, can-do attitude. But the greatest impact I get is knowing they're actually trying to address systemic failings that have become accepted in our society."

Partnership Models That Work

Sophie Livingstone, CEO of Little Village, whose baby banks partner with every London Babyzone, exemplifies the integrated approach that research shows is most effective. "Babyzone staff give us a list of families and items they need. Our volunteers pack and deliver them to Babyzone centres. The feedback is that this really encourages families who might be struggling financially to connect and get more out of the incredible provision that Babyzone provides."

This partnership model reflects the Better Purpose finding that "holistic, place-based solutions are most effective, as they target multiple facets of early childhood development and family support within communities." The research demonstrates that integrated approaches combining direct services with practical support yield superior outcomes to single-service models.

"We're currently in every London Babyzone, but there are 400 baby banks across the country—as Babyzone grows, we can spread this learning," Sophie noted, illustrating the potential for evidence-based scaling.

Lucy Elwes, a Babyzone trustee, emphasised the urgency backed by research: "What I really love about the mission is the speed at which we're trying to grow across the kingdom. There's a real sense of urgency about the mission. We know exactly how much we're helping kids, and we have the right tools and people in place to push this out to all parts of the UK."

Grace Bills from pirkx reflected on the broader momentum, connecting to policy trends: "I'm excited that there seems to be real momentum at the moment, with lots of campaigning around a holistic approach to early years, starting with paternity leave campaigns, but also those tiny little moments we do every day with children that support their learning and development."

Evidence Meets Experience

Sir Alan Wood, whose career spans nearly five decades in children's services, offered perspective on what makes this moment different: "I was introduced to Babyzone recently. But in a very short period, I've looked at the videos and spoken to people who've used it, and I'm really excited. This sector faces the most appalling challenges: lack of skilled staff, lack of money, people having to close nurseries. But here we can see that creativity, innovation, and determination allows us a way forward. When you look at the joy and happiness on people's faces when they talk about Babyzone, it makes you truly believe change is happening, change is possible."

His observations align with Babyzone's parent outcome data: 97% of parents report that Babyzone has had a positive impact on their experience of parenthood, whilst 84% say they use what they've learned at home. These findings echo the Better Purpose review's emphasis on "sustained developmental impact beyond programme sessions."

The Royal Foundation similarly notes that "by embedding play-based learning, structured activities, and social interactions into its programmes, Babyzone helps children develop essential self-awareness, emotional regulation, communication skills, and social connections."

Looking Ahead: From Evidence to Action

As the evening concluded, the sense was of momentum building towards something unprecedented. Charles' closing words captured the synthesis of evidence and aspiration: "We don't need to go somewhere over the rainbow to find the answer. The answer is in front of us. We need to dare to dream, and those dreams can come true. We can finally do justice to what we've known for decades: that these early years are the most important time of anyone's life. If we get it right, we won't just solve one problem, we'll solve them all."

The conversation continues, but the research foundation is stronger than ever. Babyzone's approach demonstrates how sophisticated understanding of brain development, attachment theory, implementation science, and community engagement can be translated into practical action. Their model, validated by parent outcomes, supported by neuroscience research, and aligned with policy frameworks, offers a blueprint for scaling evidence-based early years support.

The research is clear. The policy commitment is unprecedented. The community demand is overwhelming. The only question now is whether we have the collective will to move from evidence to action at the speed and scale that children and families deserve.

The Babyzone Summer Dinner brought together over 100 leaders from across early childhood policy, delivery, research, and funding.  Babyzone currently operates in multiple locations across the UK, with rapid expansion planned based on evidence-informed implementation principles.