Words by Abi Scaife
The Princess of Wales has shown herself to be a passionate advocate for a variety of causes, and, for the last few years, has been supporting Early Years education.
We’re big fans of this at Smiley News; our sponsor, SmileyWorld, has even teamed up with Save the Children. Together, they created The Happier Schools Project, including incredible resources for teachers and schools, to help young children with their education and wellness.
To celebrate her amazing work, here are some things you may not know that Her Royal Highness has done to champion the wellness of young people.
In Spring 2023, The Princess launched the ‘Shaping Us’ campaign, designed to raise public awareness and understanding of the importance of the first five years of a child’s life. Shaping Us is now a long-term campaign from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, and aims to continue Her Royal Highness’ work.
The Princess also hosted a National Symposium on the topic, bringing together leaders, specialists and experts of all disciplines. This meeting of minds helped to figure out how best we can improve a child’s early years and set them up for the best adulthood possible through early years care and education.
This comes after a steering group, established back in May 2018, where The Princess spoke with a number of leading childhood experts about how impactful early childhood experiences are in adulthood. Here, they not only discussed adverse effects but also how we can come together to make strong, impactful and positive changes.
The Princess launched the ‘5 Big Questions’ survey in 2020, asking the public all-important questions about the lives of under-fives. The survey was open to anyone to complete and sparked a huge discussion that is still ongoing, about how important it is to nurture children in the early years of their lives.
This survey was just one part of wider research conducted by The Royal Foundation and IPSOS Mori, and its findings are assisting the early years sector in how best we can support our future generations.
Her Royal Highness was a key part of developing BBC Education’s Tiny Happy People, a series of free resources available for parents and carers. These resources are aimed at helping to develop language skills all the way from pregnancy to four years old.
The Princess has always recognised how important it is to support parents and carers as they care for their dependents, and her involvement in the project has been a huge part of its success.
It’s amazing to see that Her Royal Highness cares so much about the public, all the way from our tiniest, and youngest, members! At Smiley News, we can’t wait to see what else she will do to make a positive impact in our world.
To access Tiny Happy People resources, visit this link.
You can learn more about The Happier Schools Project here.
At Smiley Movement, we like to elevate the work of charities across the world. Here are three charities whose causes align with the themes in this article.
Gingerbread. Gingerbread is a charity for single-parent families. They provide expert advice and practical support for single parents in England and Wales. Find out more here.
Home-Start UK. This local community network of trained volunteers and experts helps families with young children through their challenging times. Support them here.
Family Action. Family Action is an award-winning national charity working from the heart of local communities across England and Wales. Learn more here.
