Celebration of early childhood kicks off this November in Leeds

Celebrating differences, understanding cultures, and taking inspiration from art, play, and self-identity are the core ideas running throughout the week, with this year’s theme being ‘culture and identity.’

Baby Week was set up in Leeds in 2016 with one clear aim to make Leeds the best place to grow up and has now expanded throughout the UK, with events being held across nine different locations.

Over a 100 events will take place across Leeds throughout the week, including a free opening party at the Tetley on Tuesday 14 November that will feature stalls, exhibitions and activities celebrating early childhood.

For further information about Baby Week and to view the full programme of free events please visit www.babyweek.co.uk

Councillor Fiona Venner, Leeds City Council’s executive member for children's social care and health partnerships, said: “It is fantastic to see Baby Week return for another year, and for a wide variety of places across Leeds to be joining in on the action.

“Early childhood is a really important phase in children’s lives, so it is so important that the whole city comes together to support parents across the week.”

Founder of Baby Week Leeds, Lucy Potter said: “From seeing Baby Week celebrated across Brazil known as Semana Do Bebe, I knew it would be a fantastic initiative to bring to Leeds to bring sectors together to focus on the best start and really make a city-wide impact.

“We know the early years are a crucial stage and we really want every child to have the best start. From a tiny seed in Leeds, Child Friendly Leeds have helped make the initiative into a national awareness week celebrated across nine regions this year.

“Baby Week is not only a platform to promote services, reduce barriers to access and bring families together but also a fantastic opportunity to bring students and professionals working in the health, education, and early years sector together to collaborate and share best practice.”

Earlier this year, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales visited Leeds to launch the ‘Shaping Us’ campaign and to hear more about Child Friendly Leeds, an initiative that baby week is a central part of. Following the visit, work began with partners to promote the importance of early childhood nationally, with baby week now being rolled out across nine regions:

• Leeds
• Bradford
• Calderdale
• Cheshire and Merseyside
• Coventry
• Redcar and Cleveland
• Nottinghamshire
• Newcastle
• Torbay

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