Best Beginnings

Babyzone

Best Beginnings is the podcast for everyone working in or caring about the early years. Hosted by George Looker, CEO of Babyzone, each episode brings together leading researchers, clinicians, practitioners, policymakers and parents to explore the evidence, ideas and innovations shaping how we support children and families in the UK.

From infant mental health and attachment to workforce challenges and systems change, Best Beginnings goes beyond the headlines to have the conversations that matter most in early childhood.

New episodes drop every Tuesday.

Best Beginnings is brought to you by Babyzone, a national charity operating free, evidence-based family hubs across England for families with children aged 0–5.

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18 episodes
Avg 39 min
English

Episodes 18

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#17
July 28 · 41 min
Camilla Reid: What School Readiness Really Means
Camilla Reid, author of Pip and Posy and I Am Ready for School, joins Best Beginnings to talk about what children really need before they start school. In a wide-ranging conversation with George, she makes the case that school readiness is about confidence and self-management, not academic preparation, and explains why five minutes of shared reading a day from birth to five can add nearly 1.5 million words to a child's vocabulary. She also talks about screens, cortisol and the case for lending libraries in every early years setting.
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#16
July 21 · 52 min
Sally Hogg: Why Early Childhood Change Never Sticks
Sally Hogg, founding director of Start Strong and founder of the 1001 Days Movement, joins Best Beginnings to explain why early childhood investment keeps cycling through without lasting change. She discusses the gap between what the British public believes about early years and what they demand from government, the "feckless parent" narrative that holds back political action, and what a new government should prioritise to make early childhood a permanent part of public infrastructure. She also reflects on building the 1001 Days Movement, working with the Royal Foundation and the Princess of Wales, and what gives her genuine optimism about the next ten years.
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#15
July 14 · 41 min
The Richmond Project's Lizzie Gaisman on the maths anxiety we pass to our children
Lizzie Gaisman, CEO of the Richmond Project, joins George to discuss the findings from the UK's largest ever survey on how people feel about numbers and what it reveals about a confidence crisis that starts early, falls hardest on mothers and travels between generations. They cover why maths anxiety leads to real skill decline, why low-income mothers are both the most affected and the most motivated to change, and how our Everyday Maths programme is working to interrupt the cycle before children reach school age. A practical, evidence-led conversation about one of the most underweighted problems in early years.
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#14
July 7 · 35 min
Home Start's Jodie Reed on the 1 in 5 parents the system can't reach
Jodie Reed, co-CEO of Home Start UK, joins George to talk about what 9,000 trained volunteers do for over 60,000 families every year and why that work can't be replicated by statutory services. They cover why family isolation is a structural trend that didn't recover after the pandemic, what the data reveals about the families Home Start reaches, why most families will never engage with a formal parenting programme, and what Jodie's lockdown baby blind spot research found about the systems that protected families in a crisis. A clear-eyed, personal conversation about the gap between what family policy promises and what families actually need.
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#13
June 30 · 36 min
Trust, Stigma & Why People Don't Use the Care That's There | Dr Ingrid Katz
Dr Ingrid Katz, Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, joins George to talk about one of the most important questions in public health and early years: why don't people use support that's free and available? Drawing on 20 years of research in perinatal HIV clinics in southern Africa, she explores trust, stigma, community co-creation and the practice of humble inquiry — and what all of it means for reaching the families who need help most.
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#12
June 23 · 39 min
Domestic Abuse & The First 1001 Days | Lauren Seager-Smith
Lauren Seager-Smith, chief executive of the For Baby's Sake Trust, talks with George about the programme working at the intersection of domestic abuse and the first 1001 days of a child's life. In this episode, they discuss why pregnancy is a critical window for intervention, why working with fathers protects babies and what the evidence says about love, connection and the prevention of violence.
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#11
June 16 · 27 min
Anna Heuschkel: What the Evidence Says About Early Years and the Children Being Left Behind
George spoke to Anna Heuschkel, policy researcher and early years lead at the Centre for Young Lives, about the state of childhood in England and what it will take to close the gaps. From the dismantling of Sure Start to the risks inside the government's 75% school readiness target, this is an honest conversation about what the evidence shows, why it keeps being set aside, and why getting early years policy right is one of the most consequential things government can do.
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#10
June 9 · 44 min
Why Reading Starts Before a Child Can Read | Laura Henry-Allain MBE
Reading enjoyment among children is at a 20-year low. Only one in three children now say they enjoy reading in their free time. So what will it actually take to reverse that decline and why does it start in the earliest years? In this episode, Babyzone CEO George Looker is joined by Laura Henry-Allain MBE, creator of Jojo and Gran Gran, the first Black British animation produced for CBeebies, National Year of Reading ambassador and one of only 49 educators worldwide named a Global Master Leader in early care and education. In this episode we talk about: The National Year of Reading and what going all in really means Why parental confidence is one of the biggest barriers to reading at home The Jojo and Gran Gran origin story and what it took to get a yes from the BBC Dyslexia, neurodiversity and a lifelong love of reading Why representation in children's books benefits every child What children understand that most adults have lost Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone, the UK's fastest-growing early years charity, dedicated to giving every baby the best start in life. Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday.
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#9
June 2 · 39 min
Building the Case for the Earliest Years | Will Quince
The 1001 Critical Days Foundation is one year old. In that time it has allocated £1.5 million in grant funding, published screen time guidance that has been cited internationally, supported the nationwide rollout of Dad Matters and begun advocacy work in Norway and South Africa. For Will Quince, its first ever Chief Executive, it is only the beginning. Will spent nine years as MP for Colchester and served as Minister for Early Education, holding further ministerial roles across health and welfare. He joins George Looker for this episode of Best Beginnings to talk about what the Foundation is building, why it matters and what it will take to make the case for the earliest years stick, not just in Westminster but globally. In this episode they talk about the research the Foundation has commissioned and what it reveals about the state of perinatal support in the UK, why 80% of the human brain is developed by the age of two and what that demands of policymakers, and why the birth rate data of 2026 should be a turning point for how this country invests in families. Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone, the UK's fastest growing early years charity. Every week we speak to the researchers, practitioners and policymakers working to improve outcomes for babies and their families. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and if you found this useful share it with someone who needs to hear it.
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#8
May 26 · 42 min
The Interaction Engine: How Babies Communicate Before Language | Professor Paul Seedhouse
Before a baby says their first word, they have already been communicating for weeks. Tracking faces, directing gaze, passing objects back and forth and waiting to see what happens next. These are not random behaviours. They are the foundations of everything language will become. Professor Paul Seedhouse is Emeritus Professor of Human Spoken Interaction at Newcastle University and one of the world's leading experts on the interaction engine: the universal communication system every human is born with that predates spoken language by almost 2 million years. In this episode Paul joins George to talk about what the interaction engine is, why every child must develop it before language can follow and what happens when they don't. They also discuss turn taking, screen time, the role of siblings and why the earliest interactions between a parent and their baby matter more than most people realise. Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone about the first five years of life and why they shape everything that comes after. New episodes every Tuesday.
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#7
May 19 · 27 min
Sophie Livingstone MBE: What Families in Poverty Really Need
Sophie Livingstone MBE, CEO of Little Village and Chair of the Baby Bank Alliance, joins George Looker to talk about what essential items really mean for families experiencing poverty. From slings to high chairs, Sophie explains how practical support changes lives, why dignity is central to everything Little Village does, and what it means to design early intervention around families rather than systems. Sophie also reflects on the stigma around child poverty, the collective responsibility we all share for children's futures and what it would take to put Little Village out of business.
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#6
May 12 · 53 min
"You're Doing Better Than You Think" | Dr Martha on Parenting, Psychology and the Early Years
Most parents questioning whether they are getting it right are already doing well enough. That is not reassurance. That is what the science shows. Dr Martha is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with children and families. She trained at UCL and the Tavistock, spent 18 years in the NHS and has built an Instagram community of over 290,000 people. Her Sunday Times number one bestselling book is How to Be the Grown Up. In this episode we talk about what babies actually need when they cry, why you only need to be attuned to your child 30 to 50% of the time, how to handle tantrums in public, why your love does not get halved when a second child arrives, why it is never too late to repair your relationship with your child and what she would do if she had a magic wand for parenting policy. Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone, the early years charity supporting families from pregnancy to five. Subscribe for weekly conversations with the researchers, practitioners and policymakers thinking most deeply about how to give every child the best start.
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#5
May 5 · 46 min
The Screen Time Truth Every Parent Needs to Hear | Professor Sam Wass
What is fast-paced screen content actually doing to your child's brain? And why does every parent recognise the mood their child comes off a screen in? Professor Sam Wass is Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of East London, leader of the Baby Dev Lab, and one of the psychologists from Channel 4's multi-award winning series The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds. In this episode we talk about why fast-paced content puts children into fight or flight mode, why using screens to calm toddler tantrums can make behaviour worse over time, what your phone is doing to your child's sense of security without you realising and why the thing most parents believe helps children learn is actually the opposite of what the neuroscience is telling us. Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone about what happens in the first five years of life and why it shapes everything that comes after. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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#4
April 28 · 43 min
Financial Insecurity Is an Early Years Crisis, with Alex Christopoulos, Aviva Foundation Lead
What does money have to do with how a child develops? Everything, argues Alex Christopoulos, Director of the Aviva Foundation. In this episode, Alex joins George to explore how financial insecurity shapes the environment children grow up in, affecting parental stress, presence and responsiveness in ways that directly impact early development. Alex draws on his background in international children's rights and his work co-authoring a Lancet Commission on deinstitutionalization to make the case that the early years and financial sectors need each other and that the UK consistently underinvests in prevention. He also shares what the Aviva Foundation is doing differently, how the Royal Foundation's Early Childhood Business Taskforce is changing employer behaviour and what the Babyzone and Baby Buddy partnership means for families navigating financial pressure right now.
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#3
April 21 · 43 min
Sergei Urban| Why Everything Your Child Needs Is Already in Your Kitchen Cupboard
What if the secret to raising curious, confident children was already in your kitchen cupboard? Sergei Urban is the founder of The Dad Lab, one of the most followed play based learning platforms in the world. With over 10 million followers and 3 billion YouTube views, his content is used in classrooms worldwide including by the Australian government. He has done all of it without a science degree, with a masters in economics and a kitchen cupboard. In this episode, George sits down with Sergei to talk about why hands on play matters more than any curriculum, how to create a home environment that builds curiosity without pressure, the truth about screen time and what he actually did when his toddler got addicted to an iPad, why social media gives children answers when what they need is questions, and what it means to raise children in the age of AI. Whether you have five minutes or a full Sunday afternoon, this conversation will change how you think about play at home. Best Beginnings is the podcast from Babyzone about what happens in the first five years of life and why it shapes everything that comes after. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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#2
April 14 · 36 min
Early Autism, Baby Sleep and What Every Parent Needs to Know | Professor Emily Jones
What can we actually know about a child's development in the first year of life? And what should parents do with that information? Professor Emily Jones is Professor of Neuroscience at King's College London, leads the BOND lab at Birkbeck University and is Principal Investigator of BASIS, the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings, which has followed hundreds of babies from six months through childhood. In this episode we talk about the biggest myths around autism, what sleep patterns in babies as young as 14 months can tell us, why neurodivergent parents may naturally be creating better environments for their children and what Emily would most want every worried parent to hear. Best Beginnings is a podcast from Babyzone about the first five years of life and why they shape everything that comes after. Each week George Looker speaks to the researchers, practitioners, parents and policymakers thinking most deeply about early childhood. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
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#1
April 7 · 41 min
You Only Get One Chance at This | Neil Leitch on Best Beginnings
Neil Leitch has spent decades fighting for the early years sector to be taken seriously. As CEO of the Early Years Alliance, the largest early years membership organisation in England, he has seen what happens when families don't get the support they need in the earliest years of life and what changes when they do. In this episode we talk about a freedom of information request that took two and a half years to win and revealed that in 2021 the Department for Education calculated it would cost £7.49 per hour to properly fund early years provision for three and four year olds. Today providers receive around £5.60. Less than the government's own figure, four years on, after double digit inflation and rising costs. We also talk about why 77% of early years educators who leave the sector say they feel undervalued by government, what real education actually looks like, why every child has talent but not every child has opportunity and why the earliest years are the single most important period we consistently underinvest in. Subscribe to Best Beginnings wherever you listen to podcasts and if you know someone who needs to hear this, share it with them.
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April 7 · 18 min
Introducing Best Beginnings
1 million new neural connections form in a child's brain every single second during the first three years of life. By the time a child turns two, more than 80% of their brain architecture is already in place. And yet, as a society, we invest the least in the years that matter most. That's what Best Beginnings is here to change. In this opening monologue, George Looker makes the case for why the earliest years aren't just a social priority, they're an economic one. And why what happens at the kitchen table matters more than any government programme. Subscribe to Best Beginnings wherever you listen to podcasts and if you know someone that needs to hear this, share it with them.
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