Background to Children's Centre Services
Sure Start
Sure Start is a Government programme that aims to develop
services for children under the age of 5 and their families, to
ensure that every child gets the best start in life. It provides
integrated services covering early education, childcare, health and
family support. In July 2002, Bath and North East Somerset
established a Sure Start Local Programme in south west
Bath.
During the early stages of establishing the programme in
south-west Bath, several consultations were carried out – one with
children, another with parents, and the third with local service
providers. The responses that were collected strongly influenced
the services and groups that Sure Start provided.
Children's Centres
The national Sure Start Children’s Centre programme is based on
the principles developed, and the lessons learned, through existing
Sure Start Local Programmes, which effectively finished in April
2007. Children's Centres will be a mainstream national service
and the Government requires that every community has a Children’s
Centre by 2010.
In November 2005, work was started on Bath and North East
Somerset's first Children’s Centre, which is situated on the
site of St Martin’s Garden Primary School in Odd Down, Bath and in
May 2006, St Martin’s Garden Children’s Centre was handed over to
the Local Authority.
One of the key principles of both the Sure Start Local Programme
and Children's Centre Services is the involvement of parents,
carers and children at all stages of the development of services
and in the running of Children's Centres. During the development of
new Children's Centre services, such as those in Midsomer Norton
and Foxhill, which are both in the planning stages, we consulted
with local people to ensure that their view's were taken into
account. We will continue to do this in the development of other
Children's Centre Services throughout the area.
