Together for Children

Eyres Monsell and Gilmorton Children’s Centre provide integrated education and childcare for children up to 12 years of age through a partnership agreement with Play Days, a private nursery provider. Play Days nursery is registered for 48 children and was established in the Childrens Centre in October 2006 through a business licence agreement with Leicester City Council.

North Chadderston Children’s Centre provide integrated childcare for children aged 0-3 years through a partnership with First friends, a private provider. The nursery has 26 places with an additional 16 for childcare.

“ABC Nurseries” was the first private provider to be based on a school site. Parents and schools alike have found that this arrangement means that they are not only able to access great childcare, but levels of vandalism have reduced as the school site is now occupied during holidays

A registered Charity, Ormiston Children and Families Trust is the Lead agency of the All Aboard Children’s Centre who support children and families in the St Andrew’s Ward of Colchester in Essex. The Centre offers a unique approach on achieving outcomes and is seen as a beacon of delivery to those most in need.

In April 2007, Blackpool launched its Childcare Partners Scheme, designed to bring all local childcare providers together to enhance the benefits of quality childcareavailable to children and families. This scheme was developed in response to consultation with Blackpool private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector childcare providers, including those offering group and sessional care, and childminders.

Coventry Early Years have successfully engaged Flutterbies Day Nursery and Tommies Day Nursery who are both private providers, as lead agencies in delivering two of their Sure Start Children’s Centres.

Alfreton Children’s Centre provide integrated education and childcare for children aged 3 and 4 by means of a partnership between the maintained nursery school and the Pre- School Learning Alliance (voluntary organisation). The nursery has 26 places with an additional 16 for childcare.

Eight out of Seventeen wards in Hartlepool are among the top 10% most deprived in England. Kiddikins opened as a neighbourhood nursery in March 2004 in one of the most disadvantaged areas. Kiddikins was involved in early consultations about the development of Children’s Centres and now sits on the management board of the Headlands Children’s Centre.

Leicestershire Local Authority funds a post within CVS Community Partnership (CCP) an infrastructure Voluntary Sector Organisation. CCP supports Voluntary Community Sector organisations who deliver services to children & young people. The role is to ensure that the VCS is informed at all levels of planning, development and service delivery around the extended services strategy for Leicestershire.

When Tattershall Primary School was identified as the site for the Phase 2 Children’s Centre in the area, it is fair to say that some local partners were surprised by the choice of location. No-one could argue that the Clinton Park Estate didn’t need services to support children and their families but practitioners were already successfully working in partnership at the Clinton Park Community Centre, facilitated by Royal Air Force Coningsby’s HIVE Information and Signposting Service, Community Centre staff and volunteers.

‘Places for Children’ is a subsidiary company for ‘Places for People’ and opened in June 2006 around the same time as Newbiggin Hall Children’s Centre. The Centre’s manager visited several settings in the Newbiggin area and was impressed by the way ‘Places for Children’ managed their setting.

Both Barnardo’s and NCH have a strong presence in two different district council areas in Northumberland in providing family centres for a number of years. Once the Sure Start programmes commenced, the two organisations became the natural lead and were keen to be involved in the future planning for Children’s Centres in Northumberland.

Torrisholme and Morecambe Kindergarten, supported by NDNA successfully bid to deliver the childcare element of Poulton Children’s Centre in Lancashire.

Rosy Apple Childcare Ltd is a chain of four successful day nurseries in the Preston area, which in the space of 2 years has become a key partner for Lancashire LA. Rosy Apple currently provides 59 day care places in the Ribbleton Children’s Centre under the name of Little Achievers. Little Achievers sits on the management board of the Children’s Centre to champion the views of the community.

Leicestershire City Council supported a group of local parents in developing a social enterprise Co-operative in order to deliver the day care in the Children’s Centre. The Nursery has been operating successfully for almost 3 years.

The Ark is a good example of how integrated work can provide co-ordinated responsive support for local families. The Ark also helps to encourage the personal development and confidence of all children and adults in one of the most deprived areas in Suffolk.