Ms Ruth Doggett:

The preparing for life programme is community-led prevention and early intervention programme led by Northside Partnership. It was initiated in 2007 with funding from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Atlantic Philanthropies. In the main, the focus was on improving school readiness for children in the area who were found not to have the appropriate skills for starting school. The initiative was developed as a five-year home-visiting programme. It is joined with the positive parenting programme, PPP. The holistic definition of school readiness includes physical health and well-being, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language development and cognition. One finding of the health study relevant to the discussion this morning was that the programme had a positive impact on childhood obesity. I suppose that was in the broader context of improving school readiness. The contributing factors included the home-visiting programme. Those involved went into homes and spoke to parents about how to support their children with healthy eating and being prepared for school. It is a programme that focuses on supporting parents in a positive way to get their children ready for school and to have the skills and knowledge to support their children to achieve good outcomes.