Other policy
Research: Impact of Sure Start local programmes
29 Sep 2009
The Impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on Three-Year-Olds and their Families
Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLP), now Sure Start Children's Centres, provide support for young children and their families in disadvantaged areas. With the aim of the programme to improve health and well-being, building communication skills in the early years is vital, as shown in the report Promoting Speech and Language - a themed study in fifteen Sure Start Local Programmes.
This report looks at over 9,000 families in 150 Sure Start areas and makes comparisons with those in similar disadvantaged areas without Sure Start. The report's key findings as outlined below include children having better social skills, which require good communication skills.
Key findings
All findings of SSLP effects are reported after adjusting for a wide range of family and area background factors. Comparison between children and families living in SSLP areas and those in similar areas not having a SSLP revealed the following benefits associated with living in a SSLP area.
- Parents of three-year-old children showed less negative parenting while providing their children with a better home learning environment.
- Three-year-old children in SSLP areas had better social development with higher levels of positive social behaviour and independence and self-regulation than children in similar areas not having a SSLP.
- The SSLP effects for positive social behaviour appeared to be a consequence of the SSLP benefits upon parenting (i.e. SSLP - Parenting - Child).
- Three-year-old children in SSLP areas had higher immunisation rates and fewer accidental injuries than children in similar areas not having a SSLP; it is possible that instead of reflecting positive effects of SSLPs these health-related benefits could have been a result of differences in when measurements were taken of children living in SSLP areas and those living elsewhere.
- Families living in SSLP areas used more child and family-related services than those living elsewhere.
- The effects associated with SSLPs appeared to apply to all of the resident population, rather than suggesting positive and negative effects for different subgroups as detected in the earlier
(2005) report. - The more consistent benefits associated with SSLPs in the current study compared with the earlier study may well reflect the greater exposure of children and families to better organised and more effective services, as SSLPs have matured over time, though it remains possible that differences in research design across the two studies could also be responsible.
(NESS summary report, p.1)
Download the full report at the NESS evaluation website.
