Cradle to Career

What is Cradle to Career?

Wellington is leading the way in Somerset with an ambitious and inspiring initiative: Cradle to Career (C2C). This community driven approach is designed to give every child the best possible start in life by bringing together families, schools, local services, charities, and residents to support families from pregnancy through to early adulthood.

C2C is a Reach Foundation initiative that goes beyond services – it’s about building a connected community where families feel well supported and children can thrive. This is not something being done for Wellington; it’s being built with Wellington. By working together, we can create opportunities, tackle challenges, and ensure that every child has the skills they need to succeed.

The Reach Foundation is a driving force behind the Cradle to Career initiative. It provide national coordination and a learning network that connects schools families, local authorities, and community organisations. Reach supports local communities by helping schools develop support for children and families, offering leadership development and building collaborative partnerships. These efforts ensure that communities like Wellington can identify strategies, such as early years hubs, reading initiatives, and youth employment projects, that deliver successful outcomes.

A Major Milestone

Thanks to collaborative efforts of key partners, Wellington is set to become home to one of Somerset’s first Best Start in Life hubs – a network of facilities for parents and caters to access joined-up support. This is a huge step forward in making help easier to find with more effective advice and support for new parents. The opening of the Kings Arms Community Hub has already provided an important opportunity to work with young people and their families.

Early Projects Planned Include

Early Years and Parent Support

Enabling families to feel confident and connected, from birth to when they join preschool. This will involve providing advice to new parents from the early days of pregnancy through to the point where they start their educational journey.

Reading Town

Promoting a love of reading across the community – in libraries, cafés, playgroups, and beyond. The hope is that by encouraging reading at all ages this will improve reading across the board and will help children to read better and achieve more.

Mobile Phone Project

Supporting digital wellbeing and tackling screen time challenges for the community, in particular young people. The aim is that this will allow the community to benefit from the exciting opportunities provided by smartphones and new technology, but to remain safe and enjoy time away from their screens.

Employability

Creating local opportunities for work experience, supported internships, and youth employment. We hope to support young people to enable them to achieve their potential and to get good quality jobs and become active, positive members of our community.