More children are needing social, emotional, academic and practical support when they start primary school, impacting school staff and having a knock-on effect on children’s attainment. This is a particular issue in Mansfield. Nationally, by the end of reception, 67% of children have reached 'a good level of development'. In Mansfield, this figure is around 60%.

NTU's Centre for Student and Community Engagement ran an award-winning pilot with Oak Tree Primary School and the Oak Tree estate community in Mansfield to address the issue of below average school readiness.

As a result of this work, Mansfield District Council awarded CenSCE £250,000 through the Levelling Up partnership to expand the project across the district, and recruit a team to take this work forward. Using the Collective Impact approach and Systems Thinking, the team is building on the successful tactics used in Oak Tree.

This initiative is bringing together a cross sector network of professionals and parents/carers to steer the project and is committed to listening to the views of everyone with a stake in the issue, including local families. This work also supports the aims of the new national Best Start in Life Strategy.