Our team will work with parents, educators, professionals and academics with an in interest in parenting and early childhood to share their knowledge with the wider community.

Using journalistic principles we will explore topical issues, surveys, studies and research papers, reporting in the interests of parents seeking high quality information from a reputable source. Some of the topics will be complex pedagogical issues, but our aim will be to reflect reasonable views in a relatable way.

We will endeavour to report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts.

Our aim is to:

• Help raise the standard of awareness for parents in the birth-5 years age group through knowledge-based journalism that is responsible and balanced.
• Harness the expertise of childhood professionals to provide parents with a clearer sense of how to embrace early learning in the home.
• Build audience trust and cultivate respect through quality reporting, considerate community management and a commitment to safeguarding privacy.
• Ensure the social purpose of First Five Years is being met and is not compromised.
• Protect editorial freedom should any sponsorship or commercial agreements be considered.
• Be accountable. Where errors occur, be willing to correct them, or where imbalance is pointed out, be willing to provide that balance.
• Make all reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy in all fact-based content i.e. quotes should be accurate and any editing should not distort the meaning. This standard does not apply to expressions of opinion.

Many parenting and child development issues can be controversial and result in disagreement. We believe in balance so where there are valid arguments on a controversial topic, we will present them so that parents can make their own decisions based on the available evidence.

It should be remembered that the views expressed in the articles are those of the individuals and do not reflect that of First Five Years or Goodstart Early Learning. First Five Years remains an impartial curator of information for parents.

First Five Years reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgment around the content published and on moderation decisions. Editorial decisions to publish or not to publish an article or submission are made at the discretion of First Five Years and are based on factors including but not limited to: relevance to the audience, timeliness, calibre of writing, and supporting evidence.

First Five Years has the benefit of an advisory board of highly qualified sector professionals that advises and supports the editor.

Any concerns about content on First Five Years can be sent via Contact Us.