Supporting families in Middlesbrough
Discovery: understanding the needs of the local area
Middlesbrough Council teamed up with Thrive at Five in spring 2025 to work with children, parents and carers across the town, along with the services that support them. The five-year partnership will support children to ensure they have the strong foundations needed for life and learning.
We recently completed the first phase of Discovery in Middlesbrough, focusing on the Central and Newport wards. Discovery is the starting point for our work in each place, bringing together data, research and conversations with local organisations and practitioners to build a shared understanding of the early years landscape and the experiences of families with young children.
“We are committed to doing everything possible to provide children with the opportunity to fulfil their potential and live a happy, healthy and successful life. The quality of a child’s early years is vital for their future. Those who are developmentally ready to begin school will often have a happier and healthier childhood, while those that start behind can fall further behind.”
Discovering the factors affecting child development
As part of this work, we spoke with more than 50 professionals and practitioners across health, education, local authority teams, voluntary and community organisations, alongside reviewing local strategies, research and evidence.
Together, this helped us understand the context in which families raising children from pregnancy to age five are navigating support. What emerges is a picture of deep commitment and activity across the local system, alongside the significant pressures many families are navigating.
“We are excited to talk, listen and work together with families and carers in Middlesbrough to help our children’s development from birth to the classroom.
Children in our town deserve the best start in life and equal access to support and opportunities and we believe our partnership with Thrive at Five can help to deliver that.”
What we learnt through Discovery
• In Central ward, 67.4% of children are growing up in relative poverty. In Newport ward, this rises to 85.2%.
• Good Level of Development (GLD) in Newport ward averaged 53.3% in 2025. In Central ward schools, GLD outcomes ranged from 42.4% to 48.6%.
• Many families are also navigating additional challenges including housing instability, migration, language barriers and digital exclusion. In some schools, more than 30 home languages are spoken.
Co-design & implement: building partnerships
Once the Discovery stage is complete and we have a comprehensive picture of what life is like for children aged five and their families in a local area, we’ll move onto co-designing and implementing the support they need. We always seek to build on and strengthen the community-based support that already exists in an area. We will also take learning and insights from our programmes in England and other initiatives, as we work alongside parents, carers and all those working to support children in their earliest years.
Improve & embed: Working together to reduce early inequalities
Thrive at Five has made a commitment to establish a programme in Middlesbrough for a minimum of seven years, because we know it takes time to thoroughly embed processes that are sustainable and make a meaningful difference.
Throughout these seven years we will be evaluating and refining our approach, guided by the insights of local families. Evidence and data underpin our approach, and strong trusting relationships are the golden thread that run through all our work.
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