In 2020, St John’s Foundation launched a new initiative within our wider strategy to support people in need in our local community – this initiative was aimed at supporting children to grow up happy, healthy and educated.
Over the past five years, through this Best Start in Life initiative, we’ve supported more than 6,000 children through targeted emotional and learning support in the aftermath of COVID-19, as well as improved access to nutritious food at the height of a cost-of-living crisis. We’re proud of what this work has achieved. Children who may have fallen behind received vital help and schools now have stronger systems and more confident, skilled staff. Nurseries across the region are better equipped to support early language development, with our Language for Life programme now implemented in more than 60 early years settings.
With an overarching ambition to address the educational attainment gap in Bath and North East Somerset, this work has served to raise much needed awareness of this issue locally. It has strengthened local partnerships and created momentum for the myriad stakeholders that must work together to achieve this shared ambition to give every child the best possible start.
We have funded 134,203 free school meals to date and are continuing to fund these for the next academic year for children in most need. The government is now expanding its free school meal provision from September 2026, which will extend to the children St John’s Foundation has been supporting. In addition, many schools and nurseries are embedding the training, tools and practices we helped put in place since 2020.
In 2025, following a strategic review by our leadership team and trustees, we’ve taken stock of these achievements. We’ve looked at what’s worked and where progress has been harder to achieve, as well as what has changed since we launched our Best Start in Life initiative.
While we’ve seen real and lasting change at the individual level, we recognise that the attainment gap is a deep-seated, long-term challenge. We are proud to have raised awareness of this issue, mobilised resources to support children most at risk, and helped schools and nurseries establish stronger systems. This groundwork means others are now well placed to carry the work forward, ensuring the progress made can continue to grow.
As a charity, we need to focus our resources where they can make the greatest difference. We also face economic pressures, like many others in our sector, due to the significant changes to the wider socio-economic and political landscape since 2020, as well as commitments to the Charity Commission and our almshouse residents. As the financial landscape changes, we must adapt.
This means that once all current schemes and partnerships under our Best Start in Life initiative are honoured and come to their natural close over the coming years, we must refocus our efforts where we know we have the most impact and continue our work supporting older adults and people facing financial hardship. These challenges are increasing in our community and we are well placed to respond.
We care deeply about the issues facing people in Bath and North East Somerset. Our mission remains unchanged, as it has for over 850 years: to improve the lives of those who need us most and ensure that St John’s Foundation will continue to provide this support for the next 850 years and beyond.
