diff --git a/lib/blocklib.php b/lib/blocklib.php
index 54f08a8c8a2..58855e72293 100644
--- a/lib/blocklib.php
+++ b/lib/blocklib.php
@@ -993,7 +993,7 @@ class block_manager {
      *
      * @param string $region The name of the region to check
      */
-    protected function ensure_content_created($region, $output) {
+    public function ensure_content_created($region, $output) {
         $this->ensure_instances_exist($region);
         if (!array_key_exists($region, $this->visibleblockcontent)) {
             $contents = array();
diff --git a/lib/outputrenderers.php b/lib/outputrenderers.php
index 033471ba740..da3dbc73be9 100644
--- a/lib/outputrenderers.php
+++ b/lib/outputrenderers.php
@@ -345,6 +345,16 @@ class core_renderer extends renderer_base {
      */
     public function standard_head_html() {
         global $CFG, $SESSION;
+
+        // Before we output any content, we need to ensure that certain
+        // page components are set up.
+
+        // Blocks must be set up early as they may require javascript which
+        // has to be included in the page header before output is created.
+        foreach ($this->page->blocks->get_regions() as $region) {
+            $this->page->blocks->ensure_content_created($region, $this);
+        }
+
         $output = '';
         $output .= '<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />' . "\n";
         $output .= '<meta name="keywords" content="moodle, ' . $this->page->title . '" />' . "\n";