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Ahead of the Schools White Paper from the Department for Education, the Centre for Young lives has published a new framework for SEND reform.

The Centre for Young Lives think tank publishes Growing Up Well: A new place-based model to radically improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, setting out a new tested blueprint for local systems to deliver earlier, more effective support for children and young people.

The Future Minds campaign – bringing together Centre for Mental Health, Centre for Young Lives, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, and YoungMinds – is today (Wednesday 28 January) publishing “Future Minds: a roadmap to transform children and young people’s mental health by 2035”, a new plan to help fix the children’s mental health crisis”.

The Centre for Young Lives is publishing a new research paper, Mapping inclusion in education, which gives all local authorities an indicative ‘inclusion score’, and which suggests London boroughs may be outperforming the rest of the country on inclusion.

Today’s publication of the Government’s Youth Strategy marks the start of a positive 10-year vision for young people, backed by over £500 million. By young people, for young people – this is a strategy that we all stand to benefit from.

The Centre for Young Lives is beginning a new research project to explore ‘looksmaxxing’ - a growing internet subculture focused on maximising perceived physical attractiveness - and the impact of social media algorithms on boys' health and self-identity. We want to understand how these beauty trends are impacting how some boys and young men see themselves and the wider world.

A new policy briefing by the Future Minds Campaign and Fund the Hubs calls for an open access wellbeing offer in Young Futures Hubs to support children and young people with mental health problems.

This report sets out a framework for the Government to ensure that its Best Start Family Hubs – the successor to Sure Start – are effectively delivered and meet the needs of those children and families who need them most.

During the three-hour session, Anne’s evidence was able to draw heavily on some of the recent work of the Centre for Young Lives, in particular the research we published in July in our 2025 State of the Nation report

Baroness Anne Longfield, the former Children’s Commissioner for England, has today urged the Government to deliver a formal Prime Ministerial apology in Parliament to children and young people in England, in recognition of the avoidable mistakes affecting children made by the then Government’s in its response to the Covid pandemic.

The Centre for Young Lives think tank publishes a new report setting out a framework of how the Government’s Young Futures Hubs can keep vulnerable teenagers safe and support them to succeed.

The Centre for Young Lives is working with the Premier League Charitable Fund as its learning and evaluation partner to explore how football and football club charities can help to break down the barriers to opportunity facing some children and young people.

'Education Equality for the North of England: Challenges and Opportunities' will be presented today (Monday 8th September) in Leeds to national child health, education and care leaders, the new analysis shows that 48.5% of children who receive free school meals will have started school without meeting ‘school already’ criteria. Meanwhile, 49.1% of children not school ready are later identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN).

The Centre for Young Lives think tank launches its annual report on childhood vulnerability ‘State of the Nation: Identifying Vulnerable Children and Young People and Supporting Them to Thrive’. 

Last week we met Tanisha, a Year 12 student, who joined us for a few days to find out more about our work. We were keen to ask Tanisha about some of her experiences during the Covid pandemic, five years on, and she generously shared her recollections of that time with us in this blog.

This week, the Department for Education launched the government’s plans for reforming early years support, Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life. In a strategy reminiscent of the launch of Sure Start by the previous Labour government over two decades ago, Education Secretary Bridget Philipson announced plans which, if delivered and funded effectively, should have a transformational, long-lasting positive impact on children in their early years.

Last week the Chancellor shared the outcome of Phase Two of the Spending Review, which set planned day-to-day spending totals for all government departments for the rest of this parliament. We at the Centre for Young Lives welcome the extra investment in children’s social care, housing, the NHS, as well as commitments to expand the family hubs programme and a Schools White Paper in the Autumn, all of which have the potential to improve the lives of children, young people and their families.

Over 1,200 leaders - ranging from GPs and health workers and headteachers to experts in the built environment, creative industries, physical activity and sports, and the early years, charity leaders, academics, and local government leaders - have joined the Raising the Nation Play Commission’s call for a new National Play Strategy for England.