The Essential Early Years Wellbeing-in-Action Toolkit and Award Scheme
Improving the wellbeing of children, families and staff
Start Life Well is a complete online wellbeing framework that ensures that the whole setting reinforces the value of physical activity, healthy eating and emotional wellbeing in everything that they do. Our proven system enables organisations to measure, improve and consistently maintain high standards of wellbeing with ease.

Start Life Well provides you with the strategy, framework and tools to promote and encourage healthy choices for children, families and staff.

Achieving the Start Life Well Award recognises your commitment to actively working towards improving the wellbeing of everyone in your setting.

Start Life Well gives staff the essential knowledge, practical skills and confidence to lead and promote wellbeing and support change within the setting.
Introducing Start Life Well
What’s the buzz about Start Life Well?
Three routes to Start Life Well:

Start Life Well Gold Award and PurpleBee PANCo qualification
Start Life Well is embedded into the PurpleBee PANCo online course CACHE Level 4 Award: Become a PANCo. By successfully completing our PANCo qualification, learners will gain full PANCo status and also the setting automatically achieves the Start Life Well Gold Award.

Start Life Well Gold Award
Start Life Well Gold Award can be achieved when there is a qualified PANCo working in the setting, who is responsible for completing the steps required to achieving Start Life Well Gold Award criteria.

Start Life Well Award
Start Life Well Award can be achieved when there is a nominated Wellbeing Lead working in the setting, who is responsible for completing the steps required to achieving Start Life Well Award criteria.

Steps to achieving Start Life Well
View our infographic to find out the steps that are required to meet the Start Life Well award criteria.
What’s in the Wellbeing-in-Action Toolkit?
Detailed Wellbeing Project
Provides you with an intuitive wellbeing framework that helps you to capture everything you need for your staff, parents and for Ofsted and shows how you look after the wellbeing of everyone in your setting.


Flexible eLearning
Using the CHOICE (Choosing Healthy Opportunities in Childcare Environments) process, find out how you can use the Start Life Well assessment to plan and implement wellbeing interventions.
Innovative Self Assessment
Identify the wellbeing needs of the whole setting in an instant. Complete our unique Start Life Well Assessment to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of existing nutrition and physical activity policy and practice.


Comprehensive Resources Library
Save time searching for information by accessing our Best Practice guidelines to set, or revise, policy and to guide improvements. With access to over 100 updated links and research these charts are your go-to resource for taking action.
Personalised Wellbeing Report
Your detailed report and action steps provide you with a map and blueprint for making improvements across the whole setting and ensures that you are meeting and exceeding your settings wellbeing standards.







What next?
Choose your route to achieving Start Life Well
Join the movement of Start Life Well settings in our PANCo Network