Council set to modify children’s centre proposals
Wednesday March 30, 2011
Responding to the results of a major consultation on the future of the borough’s children’s centres, H&F Council is proposing to increase the number of centres from 15 to 16.
A report to the council’s Cabinet meeting on 18 April recommends that of the sixteen centres, six increase in size and become ‘hubs’ each with their annual council funding increased, and work with the other ten smaller centres or ‘spokes’. All sixteen centres will be run by schools or specialist voluntary organisations and receive varying amounts of funding depending on a number of factors such as levels of local need, size and location.
In addition to council funding of between £19,000 and £50,000 a year, the smaller ‘spoke’ centres will be supported to secure funding from new sources and to bring in new services requested by parents, such as the National Childbirth Trust or private yoga teachers.
“Councils across the country are having to look innovatively at how children’s centres operate in order to ensure that every penny spent is used in the most efficient and effective way,” says Cllr Helen Binmore, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.
“We have listened to the feedback from the consultation which clearly shows that local people want all the centres to be kept open. In addition to the formal consultation, I have been visiting centres, talking to managers and meeting parents to hear their views. As well as this I have held focus groups, along with the Director of Children's Services, with local parents, grandparents and carers from Children's Centres who have expressed a particular interest in being involved in shaping the service. “
As well as their direct children’s centres funding, each centre will offer services funded from other sources, such as the NHS, adult education and Job Centre Plus. The host schools or voluntary groups will also be able to raise funds themselves by working with other local groups, combining with schools’ extended day provision; and expanding the centres’ activities into the evening and weekends, for example for use by parents who wish to hire out space for children’s parties; for use by supplementary schools or for family classes.
“In these unprecedented financial times it is right to target precious resources on the most vulnerable families,” adds Cllr Helen Binmore, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services. “After listening to parents, we are altering our proposals to provide more funding than originally planned for the Cathnor Park, Wendell Park, New Kings and Shepherd’s Bush Families Project centres. This recognises the differing levels of need in the borough and the additional local need of these centres.”
The reconfiguration of children’s centres supports a wider reorganisation of Family Support Services which will result in a more coherent early intervention strategy for the borough’s most vulnerable families. Together the Family Support Localities Service, which includes outreach workers who visit families in their homes, and the Sure Start centres, will concentrate on bringing together parenting support and child development with education, housing, health and employment support, making it easier for vulnerable families to access the help available at the earliest opportunity.
By pooling all the funding for family support, which has been made possible by the Government removing the previous ‘ring-fencing’ of numerous grants, flexibility has increased, enabling us to better meet local needs.
“By bringing all our support services together, we will be able to better identify and support families before they require more intensive and expensive crisis intervention,” says Cllr Binmore. “That will help prevent children coming into care or being excluded from school later in life and will enable all the professionals working with vulnerable families to work more effectively together.”
The six hubs have been chosen to ensure an even geographical spread. The centres have been chosen on the basis of local needs, the size and quality of their existing buildings and on the willingness of those who currently run each centre to take on the extra responsibilities of running a hub.
The six proposed hubs are:
- Old Oak
- Randolph Beresford
- Masbro
- Flora Gardens
- Fulham Central
- Melcombe
The Cathnor Park centre is proposed as a ‘super spoke’ to be run hopefully by nearby Vanessa nursery school with council funding of £50,000, however a number of other specialist voluntary organisations and parent groups have also expressed interest. The Hut Pre-school group will continue to run services at Cathnor Park centre including three sessions per week and would receive a further £3,000 from the council.
Chair of Governors at Vanessa nursery, Sophie Saintly, said: “We are delighted to explore the possibility of running Cathnor Park Children’s Centre, to develop community and pre-school services for local families alongside our nursery school provision.”
Wendell Park and New Kings would receive £25,000 each and Shepherds Bush Families Project £20,000 with additional funding from the housing department. The other five spokes would receive £19,000 a year, including Ray’s Playhouse, a local parents’ group who have taken over the Sands End Playhouse with substantial extra funding from a private donor.
The requirement that parents have to use their local centre will be removed which will mean families can continue to benefit from the full range of services provided at any children’s centre of their choice in the borough.
