Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 30/06/25.
Policy: Playground Rules – Royal Society for Public Health
June 2025. If we want to improve the health of our country, we should start with our children. With the NHS under historic levels of pressure, and demographics only set to make it harder to meet these, we need to do everything we can to ensure that the next generation is as healthy as it possibly can be:
Link: https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/policy/healthy-places/playground-rules-school-report.html
Article: Exercise Proven to Boost Kids’ Mental Health – Neuroscience News
28 June 2025. A massive analysis of over 375 trials shows that structured exercise significantly reduces depression and anxiety in children and teens. Low-intensity resistance activities like light weights were most effective for easing anxiety, while moderate mixed-mode programs worked best for depression, especially when lasting under 12 weeks:
Link: https://neurosciencenews.com/exercise-child-mental-health-29266/
Article: Government to create an early years strategy – Nursery World
27 June 2025, Katy Morton. The education secretary has said in the Autumn there will be an opportunity to create an early years strategy, the Early Years Alliance (EYA) has revealed:
Link: https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news/government-to-create-an-early-years-strategy
Comment: Uniting health and schools to improve mental health – NHS Confederation
27 June 2025, Catherine Roche. By collaborating with schools and harnessing their insight, health systems can improve children’s mental health both in and outside of school:
Link: https://www.nhsconfed.org/articles/uniting-health-and-schools-improve-mental-health-0
News: Families urged to sign up to ‘holiday hunger’ clubs – BBC News Online
26 June 2025, Aisha Iqbal. Families in Bradford are being urged to sign up for a council-run summer holiday activities and food programme. The scheme – also known as the ‘holiday hunger’ programme – offers free meals and access to clubs for children who receive benefits-related free school meals or who have special educational needs:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjke44x4mdo
Article: Rates are three times as high in young women as in young men and mental ill health up across age groups, study says – The Guardian Online
26 June 2025, Anna Bawden. Rates are higher in young women as in young men and mental ill health up across age groups, study shows:
Article: Rise in the number of graduates taking up Early Years Initial Teacher Training – Nursery World
26 June 2025. The number of learners taking up the funded Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) has increased in the last two years, reveal new DfE statistics:
News: Millions of children at risk as vaccine uptake stalls – BBC News Online
25 June 2025, Dominic Hughes. Progress in vaccinating children against a variety of life-threatening diseases has stalled in the past two decades – and even gone backwards in some countries – a new global study suggests. The situation has been made worse by the Covid pandemic, leaving millions of children unprotected from diseases such as measles, tuberculosis and polio. The researchers are calling for a concerted effort to provide better and more equal access to vaccines:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ljv2mvr00o
News: Teenager in care ‘not able to access education’ – BBC News Online
25 June 2025, Sam Harrison. A woman who went through the care system says she feels her education became “not really a priority” for the authorities. Iesha, from West Sussex, who is now 21, only completed eight months of schooling between the ages of 13 and 18, because of the number of times she was moved to different homes:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23gn97pmk3o
Opinion – We need family hubs in every community to lift parents and children out of poverty – Politics Home
24 June 2025, Baroness Benjamin. The government must support families and help lift them out of poverty by investing in a family hub in every community:
Link: https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/family-hubs-every-community
Article: Teenagers who report addictive use of screens at greater risk of suicidal behaviour, study shows – The Guardian Online
18 June 2025, Hannah Devlin. Experts find link between compulsive use of social media, phones and video games and mental health problems:
Article: Schools that evict PVI providers should be banned from opening Government-funded nurseries, says Alliance – Nursery World
17 June 2025, Katy Morton. The Government is being urged to ban schools that evict PVI settings from their site from applying for funding under the School-Based Nursery scheme:
Podcast: Excluded – Radio 4 on BBC Sounds
8 June 2025. Why are school exclusions rising, and what happens to children who are excluded?:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002d883
News: New hub ‘relieves pressure’ for struggling parents – BBC News Online
1 June 2025, Jim Scott. Parents living on maternity pay say a centre providing free support and activities for children will relieve the pressure on “struggling mams”. The family hub, which offers services including health advice, breastfeeding drop-in sessions and children’s play, has opened in Sunderland’s Thorney Close: