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Last year the University became the second in the UK to achieve the prestigious Gold Award status, and the team recently underwent revalidation to retain the accreditation.

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative works with universities to ensure that all newly qualified midwives and health visitors are able to support families with infant feeding and relationship building so that all babies get the best possible start in life.

The Gold Award recognises the University’s commitment to ensuring students are effectively prepared and educated to the highest standards in infant feeding and that the leadership structures are in place to sustain this in the long term.

The report highlighted the “excellent” work of the leadership team in “raising the profile of infant feeding and the Baby Friendly standards across the University”. It also praised the commitment that the University has made to supporting a “Parent Family Campus” and the way that practical skills teaching continued to be prioritised during the pandemic.

Anne Leyland, Lecturer in Midwifery and project lead, said: “It is wonderful to get such positive recognition of the hard work colleagues have put in over the past year to extend this project further across the University. The excellent education in infant feeding which our Midwifery students have benefitted from is now offered to other programmes including our Health Visiting and Children’s Nursing students. This ensures our graduates are ready and able to give families the best possible support.”

Dr Vicky Halliwell, Deputy Dean of the School of Health and Society, said: “We are delighted with this incredible feedback from UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative. We’ve found that implementing the Gold Standards has created a cultural shift across the whole of the University including estates, student support, other curricula and aligns with our Child Safe accreditation.”