Cliftonville Children's Centre
Presentation by Frances Rehal, Thanet Children’s Centres Locality Co-ordinator, on behalf of Kent County Council
Minutes:
Frances Rehal began her presentation by providing some background on how and why Children’s Centres have developed. Since 1997/98 there has been a national review of childcare provision resulting in the development of a Childcare Strategy that aims to improve the quality and provision of childcare services. The Children’s Act 2006 now requires all agencies to work in partnership to deliver better outcomes for children and families.
Children’s Centres are places that provide information and offer access to services for families and young children under five years old. Their aim is to bridge the gap between children least able to achieve and the higher achievers. There are plans to have 3,500 Children’s Centres established in the UK by 2010 and 102 of these will be in Kent.
The Cliftonville Children’s Centre will be located opposite the newly refurbished St Paul’s Community Centre and will cover the wards of Cliftonville West, Cliftonville East and Kingsgate. It is hoped that all improvement works will be completed by summer ’09.
Government statistics were provided outlining some of the problems faced in the Cliftonville Children’s Centre catchment area. Cliftonville West has one of the highest indices of deprivation in the country.
As one of nine Children’s Centres in Thanet, Cliftonville will provide a variety of services to cater for the needs of the local community including; parent and toddler groups, a health care clinic, play and learn schemes, careers advice, parent focus groups and outreach support. Several staff are in post already, including a Network Manager, a qualified teacher and two community involvement workers.
Q. Why is Kingsgate, which is relatively affluent, included within the geographical catchment area of the Cliftonville Children’s Centre?
A. There are 9 Children’s Centres in Thanet which provide a variety of excellent services and facilities that everyone should want to access. Children’s Centres are mainstream and, unlike SureStart centres, are not specifically targeted in areas of high deprivation. The aim is for people from all backgrounds to mix together.
Q. Will the 3,500 Children’s Centres planned include Scotland?
A. Yes.
Q. Will the Children’s Centre buildings be used in the evenings?
A. The opening hours for all Children’s Centres are 08:00 to 18:00. Some of the earlier buildings are larger and are suitable for evening meetings, but it would be impractical to keep the smaller centres open in the evening as there is little demand.
Mr Hayton then congratulated Frances Rehal on recently being awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire).