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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

The Children's Foundation

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The Children's Foundation

The Children’s Foundation are a small charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Improving the health and well-being of children and young people in the North East by making serious stuff fun!

21/06/2026

💛 From Yellow Brick Road to Great North Run 💛

When Frances Smailes was a toddler, she joined her family on our Yellow Brick Road walk at Exhibition Park.

This September, more than 30 years later, she'll be taking on a much bigger challenge – running the Great North Run for The Children's Foundation alongside her husband Guy.

When Fran was just a few weeks old, she was diagnosed with MCAD, a rare genetic condition that affects how the body produces energy. Looking back, her family know just how different life could have been.

Recently, after a conversation with a colleague whose granddaughter had also been diagnosed with MCAD, Fran started looking through old family photos and memories of those early years.

That's when she decided it was time to pull on her running shoes and support our work again...

"Growing up, I always knew how fortunate I was. Looking back now, I realise just how different my life could have been."

We're incredibly grateful to Fran for taking on this challenge and sharing her family's story.

We'll be cheering you on this September! 👏🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

18/06/2026

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Molly, the newest member of The Children's Foundation team!

A local lass from Gateshead, Molly has joined us on a 15-month Customer Service Apprenticeship and has already made a fantastic impression.

In just a short space of time, she's completed her barista training, achieved her Level 2 Food Hygiene qualification and undertaken health and safety training. More importantly, she's been getting stuck in at Toddling On, our stay and play café, where her brilliant personality, enthusiasm and kindness are already helping to brighten the days of the families who visit us.

We're passionate about creating opportunities for young people to develop skills, gain confidence and build meaningful careers, and Molly is a wonderful example of the talent that exists right here in our communities.

If you're visiting Toddling On, make sure you pop over and say hello!
Welcome to the team, Molly – we're delighted to have you with us.

17/06/2026

Over 3,000 families across the North East have now received a Children's Foundation Baby Box, helping parents and babies get the very best start together.

If you received a Baby Box and your baby is now over 8 months old, we'd love to hear from you.

Feedback like this is incredibly important. By completing our Baby Box Questionnaire, you'll help us understand the difference the Baby Box has made to your family, evaluate the programme's impact, and shape future boxes for parents across our region.

We're particularly interested in hearing:

👶 Which items you found most useful
📚 How you used the books, toys and activities
💙 Whether the box helped you feel more prepared and supported as a new parent
💡 Any suggestions for items or resources you'd like to see included in future
Every response helps us continue improving the programme and building the evidence needed to support more families.

If your baby is now over 8 months old, please take a few minutes to complete, or if you know someone who has received a box, please pass it on....

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ul0KNOyTDki2fDgA9ZC5K5IeGHc-1kZCpHGK3ojwBApUNEVTUUs5TVFFQUNEVTBKVDVBQUhHNkJMUC4u

12/06/2026

With the The Children's Foundation

09/06/2026

👩‍🍳 Welcome to the team, Tilly! 💚

We're thrilled to welcome Tilly as our Volunteer Chef at Toddling On, where she'll be helping us deliver healthy, affordable food for local families and communities.

Tilly brings loads of experience, having spent eight years managing a busy café, two years running her own café business and a year as a manager at Costa Coffee. As a busy mum herself, she's passionate about creating nutritious, family-friendly meals that are both accessible and delicious!

At Toddling On, Tilly is using her skills to develop and prepare weekly food options using surplus produce donated through The Bread and Butter Thing. By giving perfectly good food a second life, we're helping to reduce waste going to landfill while providing healthy, affordable meals for families who visit the café.

From wholesome lunches to creative recipes made from whatever ingredients arrive each week, Tilly is already bringing energy, expertise and plenty of great ideas to the project.

We're so pleased to have her on board and can't wait for everyone to enjoy the fantastic food she'll be creating. 🍎🥕🥣

22/05/2026

We want to give a big welcome to Holly!

Holly has joined us as a Youth Worker and will be working alongside some of the amazing young people involved in our youth projects like Couch to 2K, our allotment sessions, mentoring programmes and much more.

She’s already looking forward to getting stuck into our summer programme, building relationships, supporting young people to grow in confidence and helping create opportunities to Make Serious Stuff Fun!

Welcome to the team, Holly 👋🌟

12/05/2026

It’s and we’re proud to be supporting children’s mental health through stories!

Our much-loved Story Chair project has now expanded to South Tyneside Hospital’s Children’s Day Unit, thanks to amazing support from the Barbour Foundation.

Hospital visits can be overwhelming for children, especially those attending regular appointments or treatment. That’s where Story Chair comes in.

✨ Weekly storytelling sessions
✨ Creative, hands-on activities
✨ A calm, welcoming space to pause and play

Delivered by our brilliant storyteller Tom, these sessions transform waiting areas into places of imagination and comfort helping to reduce anxiety, lift mood and create moments of joy when they’re needed most.

We’ve already seen the impact at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead, and we’re delighted to now be supporting even more children and families across the region.

A huge thank you to the Barbour Foundation for helping us make this possible 💙

06/05/2026

A huge thank you to Waitrose & Partners Jesmond for helping us to continue to Make Serious Stuff Fun for children and families in the region.

We’re so grateful to have received £1,500 through their Community Matters green token scheme - funding that will make a real difference to the work we do and the people we support.

A special mention to Michaela and Bethany, who popped down to collect the cheque on behalf of the team 👏 It’s support like this that shows the power of community and what can be achieved when local people get behind local causes. Thank you to everyone who chose to support us 💚

23/04/2026

We’re proud to see our Baby Boxes recognised in this major new report by Barnardo's, exploring the case for universal baby bundle provision.

The report highlights an important and growing national conversation around giving every child the best possible start in life and it is fantastic that our work in the North East is helping to shape that thinking, but we also believe this is just the starting point.

While baby bundles provide essential items at a critical moment when families may be struggling, those items are, by nature, finite. Once they’re used, many families can find themselves back at square one.

At The Children’s Foundation, we’ve championed a developmental approach - supporting not just immediate need, but the vital early experiences that shape a child’s future. From reading, talking, counting and bonding, to building attachment and school readiness, our Baby Box programme is designed to support families across the first 1001 critical days, not just the first few weeks.

Working alongside partners including North East Combined Authority, Mayor Kim McGuinness and North East Child Poverty Commission, we’ve embedded this approach at scale across the region. As a small charity, we are delivering this model region-wide, demonstrating that a more ambitious, developmental approach is not only possible, but achievable.

This report shows that there is an ambition to do more to support families and babies and we welcome further conversations with Barnardo’s and other organisations and individuals including The 1001 Critical Days Foundation, The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales and Children's Commissioner for England on how we can go further, together, because if we’re serious about giving every child the best start, we must think beyond provision and invest in development, connection and long-term support.

👉 Read the full report:

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/building-blocks-the-case-for-universal-baby-bundle-provision_0.pdf

22/04/2026

We’re delighted to welcome Tilly to The Children’s Foundation at Toddling On as our food offering takes shape! 👩‍🍳

Tilly has hit the ground running on her very first day, prepping delicious leek and potato soup alongside freshly baked cheese scones for the week ahead.

Joining us every Tuesday as our volunteer chef at Toddling On, Tilly is already making an incredible impact, bringing warmth, care and some seriously tasty creations to the families we support.

Welcome to the team, Tilly, we’re so glad to have you with us! 💛

Address

Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE14LP

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

0191 282 0000

Website

http://www.thechildrensfoundation.co.uk/

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