Bradford District Children and Young People’s Strategy 2025-2035
A Great Place to Grow Up - A Chapter of the Bradford District Strategy 2025 – 2035

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Foreword

Our Children and Young People, Our Future

Bradford is proud to be one of the youngest cities in Europe — a vibrant, dynamic place shaped by the energy, creativity, and voices of our children and young people. Their ideas, hopes, and challenges inspire us to build a better, fairer district for everyone. This strategy reflects that spirit. It’s shaped by what children and young people have told us matters most. We’re committed to working alongside them, listening, learning, and acting together.

Our strategy is built around five priorities:

1. Improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people through the implementation of coordinated, accessible and transparent pathways for
   1. mental health needs, and
   2. neurodiversity
2. Improve persistent and severe absence for children in education
3. Improve young people's work readiness and access to work, especially vulnerable young people
4. Reduce the need for children to be in care
5. All children achieve their educational potential through nurturing and supportive environments, pre-birth, throughout the early years, and in school

We believe that by working together, by focusing collectively on our vision and priorities, we can build a brighter future together for everyone in Bradford District.

We’re guided by rich insights, including the internationally renowned Born in Bradford study, which tracks the lives of over 40,000 residents to understand what helps families thrive. This data, combined with direct input from children, young people, families and professionals, ensures our actions are informed, relevant, and impactful.

Our promise is simple: we will listen, be bold in tackling inequality, and learn from both success and failure. We will work together to realise the ambition of our children and young people — because they are not just our future, they are our present.

Cllr Sue Duffy - Portfolio Holder for Children and Families

Richard Crane – Interim Director of Children’s Services

Charlotte Ramsden – Chief Executive Officer Bradford Children and Families Trust

Phillipa Hubbard – Director of Nursing and Quality Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership

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Introduction

This document sets out our shared partnership plan for children and young people that live in the Bradford District. There are a range of organisations, partnerships, strategies and plans that focus on delivering specific services and interventions for children and young people. The Children and Young People’s Strategy is designed as the north-star that connects everything together. The Partnership map - appendix 1 provides an overview of how these partnerships and services fit together.

There are over 150,000 children and young people living in Bradford district. Everything about the district impacts on young people: their home, the places they play and hang out in, where they live, the school or provision they attend, the healthcare they receive, the work the adults in their lives do and the opportunities they look forward to. The scope of this strategy is for all children and young people that live in the Bradford District, this means from pre-birth through to adulthood, and up to 25 years for young people with severe or complex needs. Our aim is to use research and evidenced based practice to improve services and outcomes. This will be achieved whilst treating everyone with dignity and respect, challenge inequalities and responding positively to different needs and circumstances so that everyone can achieve their potential.

This document sets out what organisations will do to improve the lives of children, young people and families to help make Bradford District a great place to grow up. The priorities that drive our work have been developed through consultation with children, young people, families and communities from across the District, see more about this on the next page.

We are ambitious for our children and young people and want all children and young people to:

• have the best possible start in life with the right support to enable them to grow up happy, healthy and safe
• have access to excellent education and development opportunities that lay strong foundations, give them the right skills for life and support their physical and emotional well-being, enabling them to achieve their full potential
• live in safe communities with places to play that inspire imagination and support their social, emotional and physical development
• grow up in supportive families who provide care and set appropriate boundaries

Our values as a child-friendly District:

• We take a children's rights-based approach that puts the needs of children, young people and families at the centre of our decision making
• We support and enable children, young people, parents, carers and families to have more voice and influence over local services, using co-production and community engagement to help us identify our strengths and areas for improvement
• We take a partnership approach to corporate parenting, reducing inequalities and supporting children and young people who may be living in poverty

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What we have heard from children, young people and families

The priorities that guide our work have been co-produced through consultation and engagement with children, young people and families from across the district. We have worked with a range of groups and through a range of events and activities including:

• Start for Life Parent and Carer Panels
• Youth Voice Takeover events
• SEND Local Offer Parent and Carer Engagement
• Health Determinants Research Collaboration evidence briefings
• National Play Day 2025 Children’s Consultation
• Young People’s Focus groups
• Children in Care Council
• BradStarz SEND Youth Forum
• NHS Listen In: Children and Young People Workshops
• The HDRC Bradford Youth Ambassadors

Parents, Carers and Families have told us that:

• They would like better advice and support - especially for new mothers for managing children’s health and development and understanding health information and support services
• They would like help with mitigating the impact of the rises in the cost-of-living
• They feel that emotional wellbeing and mental health services are overstretched and would like more support for their mental health and wellbeing
• They would like more free, local and child friendly spaces where they can meet other parents and make new friends.
• They would like more consistency and stability in our support services to build trusted relationships with professionals

Children and young people have told us that:

• They would like more support to develop life skills such as healthy relationships, managing money
• They would like to have better promoted and more safe and accessible youth activities and support
• They would like more opportunities to have a voice and influence in their local communities and across the district
• They would like more support for their emotional wellbeing in school and at home and peer-led approaches that empower them to support each other
• They would like more support and advice around pathways and progression

Parents and Carers of children and young people with SEND have told us:

• Children's and young people's mental health is an area of concern, with parents/carers not knowing how to get support
• Communication is key for all services and between services
• There can be a lack of information regarding Social Care Assessments and a on accessing parent/carer mental health support
• Families do not always have the right information to access support through Early Help and Family Hubs
• Attendance is an area of concern within mainstream schools, and especially amongst children and young people who are neurodivergent. There can be an inconsistency of experience across mainstream school settings.

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Plan on a page

Vision

All children and young people have the best start in life, thrive in a safe and supporting environment, achieve their full potential, and become confident, healthy, and active contributors to society.

Outcomes – supporting our vision

To help us assess how well we are doing in reaching our vision, we will track progress against six overarching outcomes – All babies, children and young people in Bradford District:

1. have the best start in life, enjoy their childhood and have fun growing up
2. do well at all levels of development and learning
3. enjoy positive physical and mental health
4. are safe in their home, in their communities and online
5. are active citizens, with voice, influence and the skills for life
6. have improved lives and life chances through our work to reduce the impact of child poverty

* Progress will be monitored through an Outcome Framework that will be reviewed annually - Appendix 2

District Strategy Cross-cutting missions

• Tackling inequality and delivery inclusive services
• Reducing and alleviating poverty

Our five partnership priorities

The CYPF Exec have agreed these activities to drive focused partnership working across high-need areas. We believe that working together and driving real impact across these areas will have a positive knock-on effect across all the above outcomes, enable us to achieve our ambition for all children and young people.

1. Improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people through the implementation of coordinated, accessible and transparent pathways for
   1. mental health needs, and
   2. neurodiversity
2. Improve persistent and severe absence for children in education
3. Improve young people's work readiness and access to work, especially vulnerable young people
4. Reduce the need for children to be in care, using effective multi disciplinary early help delivery, via the Early Help Assessment
5. All children achieve their educational potential through nurturing and supportive environments, pre-birth, throughout the early years, and in school

* Progress will be monitored termly through the Children, Young People and Families Executive

Principles that guide how we work

• always put children and young people, parents and carers at the heart of decisions
• focus on identifying needs and providing support as early as possible to prevent issues from escalating
• work together across all sectors – families, schools, health services, community organisations, and local authority services – to create a joined-up and effective support system
• ensure all children and young people have equitable opportunities to succeed and feel a sense of belonging
• create meaningful opportunities for children and young people to participate and ensure their views influence our work and the decisions that affect their lives
• prioritise the physical, emotional wellbeing and safety of all children and young people, providing environments where they feel secure, valued and supported
• be transparent about our progress, be accountable for our actions, and ensure children, young people and their families receive feedback on how their input has made a difference

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Working in partnership to improve outcomes

Who we are: Bradford Council, Bradford Children and Families Trust, NHS and Social Care Services, Voluntary and Community and Social Enterprise Sector, Early Years Services, Schools, Our local Further Education providers, The University of Bradford, West Yorkshire Police, Local businesses

Developing quality connections, conversations, and relationships with children, families, and professionals is how we work in Bradford. We are committed to working in partnership across the Bradford District to deliver our five partnership priorities, and we know that if we can drive real impact across these five areas, this will have a positive knock-on effect across all outcomes for children and young people.

• We make sure that our partnerships, strategies and plans are aligned to ensure joined up working that enables the best outcomes for all children and young people.
• We do not work in isolation; we recognise that there are cross-cutting themes and ensure our plans are joined up to reflect this.
• We recognise what good partnership working looks like and we share best practice with others.
• We have adopted the Obsessions to drive focused partnership working across high-need areas. We believe that working together and driving real impact across these areas will have a positive knock-on effect across all outcomes, enable us to achieve our ambition for all children and young people.
• Each partnership reports progress to the Children, Young People and Families Executive – The Executive is responsible for monitoring our collective progress.
• We use restorative and relational practice to enhance our partnership working and a child-friendly Children’s Rights based approach to help ensure our decisions are made in the best interests of children and young people.

The partnership map (Appendix 1) summarises the range of areas where we work together to help achieve our vision for all babies, children and young people

How we will manage, drive and monitor our work

• Ensure that strategies and plans align to the priorities and set KPI’s to monitor progress at organisation and partnership level.
• Review our strategies and plans to ensure we are as streamlined and connected as we can be.
• Establish a management information dashboard that captures all the key indicators and clearly defines ‘where we want to get to, and how we are progressing’.
• Establish an Outcome Framework to monitor impact annually against district-wide data and intelligence.
• Establish how we will use the Sustainable Development Goals as drivers for impact.
• li>Continue to use and build on the excellent research infrastructure that we have in Bradford to continuously inform policy, service design and delivery.
• Greater automation around information sharing between partners to help to manage risk and improve the safeguarding of children in Bradford.
• Using a variety of consultation and engagement approaches to continuously receive feedback from and work in partnership with children, young people and families.

Working in partnership to improve outcomes - moving into action

For each of our partnership priorities we have agreed what we will do, we will track progress throughout the year.

Our 5 priorities	We will...
1. Improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people through the implementation of coordinated, accessible and transparent pathways for mental health needs, and neurodiversity	Increase the availability of appropriate, timely and consistently high-quality mental health interventions for children and young people, including protective and preventative measures Increase the resourcing and provision of appropriate, consistent and high quality mental health interventions and support for neurodiversity at the point of need Reduce the time taken from referral to CAMHS assessment to diagnosis, ensuring all children and young people are assessed as quickly as possible Reduce the number of incidences of children and young people requiring treatment in hospital for mental health Improve mental wellbeing and resilience, reduce the burden of poor mental health, prevent suicide, and alleviate mental distress for Bradford’s children and young people
2. Improve persistent and severe absence for children and young people in education	Reduce the incidence of persistent and severe absence in all schools for all pupils Pay particular attention to those from vulnerable groups and make sure they are receiving the support that they need Improve persistent and severe absence for young people in post-16 education
3. Improve young people's work readiness and access to work, especially vulnerable young people	Increase the proportion of young people achieving GCSE English and mathematics Sustain the reduction in the NEET and Not Known rates across the district with all wards below national average, including improved rates for vulnerable young people Ensure that 100% of all care experienced young people are offered work experience opportunities under the Bradford Family Business Model Reduce the number of young adults who are unemployed or economically inactive
4. Reduce the need for children to be in care, using effective multi disciplinary early help delivery, via the Early Help Assessment	Focus help where it is needed earlier and increase the number of families supported via the early help system Think Family, consider whole family relationships, adult behaviours and the context of extended family and wider community Work proactively to reduce inequality and improve system collaboration, so that all children have the best start in life Ensure consistent quality of social care practice for those who do require the support of statutory social work services
5. All children achieve their educational potential through nurturing and supportive environments, pre-birth, throughout the early years, and in school	Increase the number of children accessing early education Ensure all children and young people access high quality education Improve the number of children and young people achieving at the end of each key stage Monitor, and reduce where required, the number of children and young people electively home educated, in particular those aged between 14 and 16 years

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Appendix 1: Children, Young People and Families Partnership Map

Partnership Boards

• Bradford District Health and Wellbeing Board
• Bradford District & Craven Health & Social Care Leadership Executive Board
• Children, Young People and Families Executive
• Growth and Skills Board
• Bradford Safeguarding Partnership

Partnership Delivery Areas

• Maternity, Health Visitors and Family Support
• Early Years, Childcare and Play
• Prevention and Early Help for children and families
• Special educational needs and disabilities
• Education: Schools, Further Education and Higher Education
• Corporate Parenting
• Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing
• Living Well
• Employment and Skills
• Neighbourhood Services
• Youth Justice

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Appendix 2: Bradford District Children and Young People Strategy Outcome Framework (2025 - 2035)

This Outcome Framework sets out how Bradford District will measure progress against its vision for children and young people. The Children, Young People and Families Executive will establish baselines for 2025 to enable annual monitoring of progress. The framework will be informed by local intelligence and national benchmarks.

How it will work:

• Each outcome aligns with district’s priorities.
• Baseline data to reflect the latest available figures.
• Data sources ensure transparency and enable annual monitoring.

Outcome	Indicator	Data source	Link to strategy priorities
1. Best start in life	% of babies born at healthy birth weight	NHS Maternity Services, PHE Birth Data	Educational potential Mental health Alleviating impact of child poverty
	% of children achieving milestones by age 2	EYFS Profile, Health Visitor Checks
	% families with access to quality early years provision	Local Authority Early Years Census, Parent Surveys
2. Do well at all levels of development and learning	% achieving expected EYFS levels	DfE EYFS Outcomes	Educational potential School attendance Work readiness Alleviating impact of child poverty
	% meeting KS2 standards	DfE School Performance Tables
	% achieving GCSE 5+ English and Maths	DfE GCSE Attainment Data
3. Positive health and wellbeing	% healthy weight at school entry	NCMP	Mental health and wellbeing
	% healthy weight at Year 6	NCMP
	% reporting good mental wellbeing	Local Health & Wellbeing Surveys, NHS Digital
4. Safe at home/ community/ online	Child protection plans (rate per 10,000)	Social Care Data	Reduce need for children to be in care
	% feeling safe in community and online	Youth Voice Surveys, Police Community Safety Reports
	Number of children supported via an Early Help plan.	Social Care Data
5. Active citizens/ skills for life	% of 16-17 year olds who are NEET	DfE NEET data	Educational potential Work readiness Alleviating impact of child poverty
	Proportion of 19 year olds achieving L3 qualifications	DfE qualification data
6. Reduced impact of poverty	% FSM-eligible pupils achieving expected outcomes	DfE School Performance Data	Alleviating impact of child poverty
	% take-up of 2-Year-Old Offer	DfE