Children's Centres in Herefordshire

Herefordshire Children's Centres
"In Herefordshire we recognise that children are our futures. The best investment that we can make for everyone will be to ensure good outcomes for all our children. When children and young people were asked what they wanted to secure their futures, they said that they need to be healthy and protected from harm. They want to enjoy school and do well; they want to be able to make a positive contribution to society and, eventually, they want to have a good job and be independent."
This is the vision for The Children and Young People's Plan, which has now
been written and is being implemented in Herefordshire. This plan fits in with the government Every Child Matters national programme that focuses on 5 outcomes:
  1. Be healthy
  2. Staying Safe
  3. Enjoying and Achieving
  4. Making a Contribution
  5. Achieving Economic Well-being
 
All children deserve a Sure Start in life so that they can grow up to contribute positively to their communities and society as a whole.
The government want to achieve the following:
For Children:
Close the gap in outcomes between children living in poverty and the wider children population.
For Parents:
Increase the opportunities for parents to find employment ensuring a better standard of life for their families and strengthening the family and the community.
For Communities:
Less crime, stronger labour market, higher productivity and the building of a civic society.
 
The Governments ambition is to improve those outcomes for all children and to narrow the gap between those who do well and those who do not. The Children Bill (2004) recognised that this ambition for improved  outcomes required radical changes to be made in the children's service.
 
Childrens's Centres promote the welfare of children and their families by offering a range of integrated  and accessible services in the community, with agencies and organisations working together to deliver the services that are needed.
 
Some Children's Centres are purpose built and some will be developed through existing services but all are Early Years Centres for children primarily under the age of 5 and their families. Families will be able to access services and a variety of agencies under one roof, as a one-stop-shop. Centres will provide young children with opportunities and experiences that will extend and develop their skills and work in partnership with families to offer services that enable them to be supported all the way through the early years.
 
Children's Centres work to meet the needs of local communities and are totally committed to offering integrated services for children and families, so partnership working across education, health, social services and the voluntary/private sector is essential.
 
Local Children's Centres around Herefordshire will offer some or all of the following services:
Early Years Education and Childcare - good quality early education as well as full daycare provision for children, with a qualified teacher on hand to ensure that children have the best possible chance to learn.
Family Health Services - Health Visitors, antenatal and postnatal services, speech and language therapy.
Family Support and Outreach Services - give parents and children access to specialist services and support at important times such as pre-birth or helping a child to settle in childcare.
Partnership Links - effective links with Children's Information Services, JobCentre Plus, Citizen's Advice Bureau, training and higher education.
Childminding Support and Childcare - will act as a base for childminders to meet,share good practice and offer extended care when appropriate.
 
Herefordshire is expected to have twelve children's centres. To date we already have the following Children's Centres up and running:
Green Croft Children's Centre -South Wye area and part Golden Valley.
Springfield Children's Centres - South Wye.
Hollybush Family and Children's Centres - South Wye.
Conningsby Children's Centre - Leominster and surrounding rural areas.
Hope Family and Children's Centre - Bromyard.
Ryefield Children's Centre - Ross-on-Wye and Golden Valley
Kington Children's Centre - services in development.
Ledbury Children's Centre - services in development
Hereford City North - in development                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                          
Strategy For Children’s Centres in Herefordshire 2006 - 2008
 
Consultation Draft August 2005
Aim:
To offer every family easy access to integrated services through Children’s Centres in their local community
 
The Vision:
The vision is to provide a Sure Start for all children – providing integrated and high quality services, so they can grow up to contribute positively to their communities and society as a whole.
 
This will mean better outcomes for all:
  • Better for children, in particular, closing the gap in outcomes between children living in poverty and the wider child population.
  • Better for parents, offering increased opportunity to work or train, ensuring pathways into prosperity and strengthening families and communities.
  • Better for communities, providing a one-stop shop for family services.
Children’s centres will be developed in a co-ordinated way in conjunction with the development of extended schools and the integration of multi-agency teams.
 
What are Children’s Centres?
The Government’s Agenda and targets:
The government has set challenging targets for agencies working with children and families.  The joint approach for all key agencies is set out in Every Child Matters – Change for Children, which outlines five key outcomes for children and young people that agencies should be working towards:
  1. Enjoying and achieving
  2. Staying safe
  3. Economic well being
  4. Being healthy
  5. Make a positive contribution
The work going on to develop Children’s Centres will form part of the wider development of an Integrated Children’s Service for the county, which will work to improve services for children, young people and their families.
The ambition is to give all children the best possible chance in life, to narrow the gap between those children who do well and those who do not.  The organisation of services around the child and family in one place, such as a Children’s Centre is one such initiative to help meet this ambition.
 

Herefordshire’s Children’s Centre and their Pivotal Role in this Vision:

 

The purpose of a Children’s Centre is to promote the welfare of children and their families by offering a range of integrated and accessible services in the community, with agencies and organisations working together to deliver the services that are needed.
 
Partnership work is crucial in meeting individual needs, without the effective co-ordination of services a project will never be more than a collection of services working in the same place.
 
What Services will Children’s Centres offer?
 
Children’s Centres will be able to offer a range of universal and targeted services in one location when and where they are needed. 
§               Early Years and Childcare
      Good quality early education combined with full daycare provision for children, with good teacher input to lead the development of learning. 
§               Childminding Support and Childcare
       Will act as a base for childminders to meet, share good practice and offer extended care when appropriate.
§               Family Health Services
       Health Visitors, Speech and language therapy, antenatal and postnatal services available.
§               Family Support and Outreach Services
       Access to specialist services, information to support at important times, eg pre-birth to settling in childcare.
§               Partnership Links
Effective links with Children’s Information Service, JobCentre Plus, Citizens Advice Bureau and training providers and higher education.
To offer every family easy access to integrated services through children’s centres in their local communities.
In this document we want to outline:
§               What children’s centres are and what they will do
§               Where the first 3 children’s centres are
§               The plans for the next 6 children’s centres
§               The budget, the targets and the time it will take
§               How you can help us get it right
Round 1 (March 2004 – 2006)
The government’s targets for the first round of Children’s Centres in Herefordshire were:
§               To reach 1044 children under 5 years
§               To create 62 new childcare places in the 20% most disadvantaged wards
Herefordshire had an indicative allocation of £337,209 capital and £148,664 revenue to achieve this.
The decision was taken to base the first round of Children’s Centres on existing provision:
1.           Leominster SureStart
2.           Green Croft Early Excellence Centre
3.           Hollybush Family Centre and its outreach at Hunderton Infants School
Progress so far:
1.           Leominster SureStart building is on target to be completed by March 2006
2.           Green Croft was officially opened as a Children’s Centre on 16 March 2005
3.                 Hunderton/Hollybush Children’s Centre’s refurbishment will be completed  
         by September 2005 and officially opened by March 2006.
Round 2 (2006-2008)
There is a strategic group who make recommendations about the planning and implementation of the Children’s Centres.  This group has representatives from:
§               Primary Care Trust
§               Acute Trust
§               Education - Children’s and young Peoples Directorate*
§               Social Care
§               Voluntary Sector
§               JobCentre Plus 
*The above group is currently chaired by the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership Lead Officer
Round 2 (2006 – 2008)
£940,360 capital plus £1,027,314
What happens next?
 
Herefordshire has £1,967,314 to create a further 6 Children’s Centres
However, some of this money will be required to fund existing centres when current funding streams cease in March 2006.
The Criteria for Children’s Centres (as revised in planning guidance July 2005)
§               Serve the 30% most deprived wards
They should offer the following core services:
§               High quality integrated early learning and care 5 days a week, 10 hours a day, 48 weeks a year
§               Family support
§               Health services
§               Parental support and outreach
§               Access to information, training and advice
In addition they should be able to:
§               Provide a childminder base
§               Parental involvement
§               Offer a minimum of .5 early years teacher post 
§               Build on existing services where possible 
§               Reach approximately 800 children (could revise this figure down in the rural
communities)
§               Provide value for money 
§               Be developed in partnership with the community 
§               Be on, or close to or have strong links with a primary school and other schools
§               Be in pram pushing distance for the community (where sensible)
§               Can provide outreach services
In the 70% other wards:
§               Developed from existing services with additional services added to meet 
           identified local need
§               Minimum range of services to include:
§               Family support and outreach
§               Information and advice
§               Childminder support via a co-ordinated network
§               Drop in sessions for children and carers (not necessarily providing integrated early 
           education and child care
§               Links to Job Centre plus
§               Health Services
§               In rural areas:
§               Full use made of existing community facilities
§               Flexible
§               Delivers services well, but not try to deliver too much or spread too thinly
 
Round 3 (2008 –10)?
Guidance issued by the DfES indicates that there will be a further phase of Children’s Centre development and current draft plans have taken this into consideration.  
 
How will Children’s Centre affect My Provision?
Where possible the Early Years and Childcare Service will support existing provision to develop and meet the needs of a Children’s Centre.  An audit of provision will ensure that any proposed plans will not undermine existing providers in the area.
 
Where might Children’s Centres be located?
The inter-agency strategic group for Children’s Centres recommends that Centre be located as follows:
 
Existing Centres:
 
Leominster  
Hereford city (South Wye (2))
 
New Centres:
Bromyard
Ledbury
Ross-on-Wye
Kington
Hereford city (north)
Peterchurch/Golden Valley – possibly mobile provision rather than a fixed base.
 
No final decisions have been made about the exact location of new Centres. 
 
What links are there to other developments?
The development of Children’s Centres for Herefordshire cannot be seen in isolation from other related developments such as Extended Schools. It will build on and be blended with them where possible to maximise the benefit for local children and communities of the limited resources available to the county.
 
The other key link is to the broader “change for children” initiative heralded by the Children Act 2004 and aimed at better integration of front line services for children. The emphasis is on the early identification of need and prompt and flexible local responses to meet that need.
Children’s centres could offer a range of possibilities to support this agenda including:
§               Providing local delivery points for centrally based specialist services 
§               Offering local bases for integrated community children’s teams
§               Acting as community hubs and information points for local people on the full range of
          children’s services
§               Focal points for participation of local children and families in developing services
§               Venues for clinics, Child in Need meetings under the Child Concern Model, parenting
          groups, foster carer support groups etc.
 
Contact:
Lea Abbotts
Herefordshire Early Years and Extended Services
Children and Young People Directorate
Blacfriars
Blackfriars Street
Hereford
HR4 9ZR  
labbotts@herefordshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01432 260939