Alice Wiseman explains Newcastle is an amazing place to grow up, but more can be done for children.
Read the full Newcastle Director of Public Health annual report 2024 to 2025 (PDF 2.47MB)
Newcastle can be an amazing city to grow up in - it is packed with opportunity. Many children fill their childhoods with trips around town, visiting museums and art galleries, picnicking in parks and going to see Fenwick’s window at Christmas. Often voted one of the friendliest places in the country, Newcastle has a strong and proud sense of community, uniting through good and challenging times.
As much as Newcastle can be an amazing place to grow up, not all children will recognise the description of the city outlined above. Their lives may look and feel a bit different. They may not get to enjoy the opportunities that living in Newcastle can bring, and they may feel those places are for other kids, not for them.
The advantages experienced by some children should be experienced by all. That’s not just fair, but it benefits all of us in the long term.
It is well-established that the foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual, emotional – are laid in early childhood.
Its why the term “best start in life” has become a common term for professionals working with babies, children and young people. But what does a “best start in life” look like in practice?
When children feel safe, loved, and have the chance to play and explore, they grow up with confidence, resilience, and curiosity. It’s during these early years that children learn how to handle emotions, make friends, and develop the skills they’ll use throughout their lives. When children are happy and healthy, they’re set up to tackle life’s challenges head-on, make positive choices, and ultimately lead fulfilling lives. It’s like planting a tree—the stronger the roots, the better it can grow.
Babies, children and young people are amongst our most creative, funny and bright residents; their lives are rich and complex. It is impossible to capture their sense of character in statistics alone, but we present here our Class of 2024. If we imagined all babies, children and young people as 100 residents this is what we would expect to see. The purpose of presenting data like this is to present in a simple way what the population of our youngest residents look like in 2024 – their size, their diversity and some of the specific challenges they are facing.
The population of babies, children and young people in Newcastle has changed over time. According to Census data, between 2011 and 2021, the overall population increased by 7.1% from 280,200 residents to 300,2000 residents. The number of children grew even more (8.1%) during this time, and the rate in Newcastle was higher than the rate in England (6.6%) as a whole.
Newcastle’s population has also become more diverse between the 2011 and 2021 census. The city has a higher percentage of Asian and Asian British people compared to the national average for England. Young people in Newcastle, especially those aged 0-19, are even more diverse than the city’s population as a whole.
Reflecting some of the pressures facing families and professionals working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, the proportion of children who have an Education, Health and Care plan has also increased significantly – by 102% in the five years between 2017 and 2023.
Read the full Newcastle Director of Public Health annual report 2024 to 2025 (PDF 2.47MB)