Press release

The expansion will mean that an additional 13,000 children will have access to health services, family support, early education services and childcare at one of the new children’s centres.

The children’s centres will provide a one-stop-shop to families with children under five and will be linked to training and employment advice for parents and carers. Each centre will provide `core’ services of childcare and early learning for young children, health services, family support, a base for childminders and help into employment for parents. Other services may include parenting courses, speech therapy, home visiting, parent and toddler groups and midwifery services – depending on the needs of the area.

Over £5m will be spent on improvements to the 18 sites ready for the new services. These range from brand new buildings to smaller adaptations or refurbishments.

The new locations were chosen following widespread consultation with schools, parents and carers. Discussions have also involved health services, voluntary and private organisations who will work with the centres to provide services.

Councillor Rupert Simmons, Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness was delighted with the decision:

"This is very exciting news. It builds on the excellent work done in the development of Phase 1 of our children’s centres which has shown that an integrated approach provides the best support to families with young children.

"I am particularly delighted that we are able to extend the service into rural areas as one of our priorities. Our vision is to create a children’s centre in every community by 2010 and this is a big step towards that. The centres will also offer informal support to parents who might otherwise be isolated or who are reluctant to approach traditional services."

The services will be gradually developed over the next two years – with all 18 centres planned to be up and running by 31 March 2008. Information for parents will be available in local libraries and the centres themselves.

Notes to editors

The childrens’ centres are managed within eight Children’s Centre Programmes according to their area. Please find details of individual centres below.

Each centre will provide `core’ services of childcare and early learning for young children, health services, family support, a base for childminders and help into employment for parents. Other services vary for different areas:

Bexhill and Sidley

Two new Children’s Centres due to open:

• Pebsham Children’s Centre – based at Pebsham Community Primary School. Offering a range of activities including family support, information and advice, links to JobCentre Plus, and training and employment support for parents and children with special educational needs.
• Sidley Children’s Centre – a full range of health and family support services based at Sidley Community Association.

Bexhill currently has one childrens’ centre which opened in phase 1.

Hastings and St. Leonards

Six new Children’s Centres due to open:

• St. Nicholas Children’s Centre, St. Leonards – a new building will expand existing health and family support services to offer childminding networks and training.
• West St. Leonards Children’s Centre – St. Ethelburga’s Church Hall will be rebuilt to provide a range of services. New services will include child and family health services, family support, information and advice and extended schools services.
• Silverhill Children’s Centre, St. Leonards – based at Silverdale Primary School. A new building will provide a multi-purpose venue to support both school and early years activities as well as accommodate training for parents and crèche facilities.
• Red Lake Children’s Centre, Hastings – based at the Red Lake Community Primary School. The new children’s centre will develop existing health, nursery and dental services to include speech and language services, counselling, health visiting drop-ins and ante-natal and post-natal advice and support. Family support services and out-of-school activities will also be available.
• The Bridge Children’s Centre, Ore Valley, Hastings – offering a range of services including first aid, counselling, food awareness, Makaton training, plus benefits and debt advice, and a childminder drop-in service.
• Hollington Children’s Centre – main site at Churchwood Community Primary school. The school currently has a maintained nursery class that offers term-time childcare for 3–4 year olds and a parent and toddler group. Full core of children’s services will be offered from a new building.

Three Children’s Centres were completed in the Hastings and St Leonards area in Phase One.

Eastbourne and Polegate

Five new Children’s Centres are due to open:

• Devonshire Children’s Centre, Eastbourne. This centre will be based in a new venue with a shop-front. As well as core childrens’ centre services, activities will include ‘healthy lifestyle’ advice, post-natal counselling, oral health promotion, nutritional advice, speech and language therapy, smoking cessation and a community café. Also home visiting, relationship counselling and interpreting services, and bi-lingual outreach workers.
• West Rise Children’s Centre, Eastbourne – based at the West Rise Community Infant School. An extension to the existing nursery class will house multi-purpose facilities for full-time childcare, local childminding networks and services from JobCentre Plus, Sussex Downs College, health visitors and midwives.
• Langney Children’s Centre, Eastbourne based at Langney Primary School. The new centre will provide services like family support, child and family health services with links to childcare provision, training and employment, and information and advice.
• Hampden Park Children’s Centre, Eastbourne – based at Hampden Park Health Centre which currently offers health services to local children and their families. New services will include family support, information and advice.
• Polegate Children’s Centre – the main site will be Polegate School where a multi-purpose room will be built to provide a range of services to support children and families in the local community.

Eastbourne already has two Children’s Centres.

Hailsham

One new Children’s Centre due to open:

• Dunbar Drive Children’s Centre – based at the existing Hailsham Resource Centre on Dunbar Drive. A new building will provide facilities for, wide-ranging services and training to support local children and families, including baby massage and baby yoga, counselling, a parenting course, speech and language support and midwifery services.

Hailsham already has one Children’s Centre.

Peacehaven

• Peacehaven Childrens’ Centre – already a thriving operational building which was formally opened in June 2006. The centre will provide full daycare in addition to its range of health services and links to family support services, information and advice and training and employmens services.

Rother

Three new Children’s Centres are due to open:

• Thomas Peacocke Children’s Centre, Rye – based at the Thomas Peacocke Community College. A new building will expand services to children and families, including health visiting, health advice and midwifery. There will also be information and advice and other family support services on offer.
• Battle Children’s Centre – based at the Battle and Langton CE Primary School. A new school extension will provide the venue for a wide range of services to local children and families, including health and family support.
• Robertsbridge Children’s Centre at the Salehurst CE Primary School. A new building will provide a new home for the village playgroup and offer ‘one-stop-shop’ health and family support services for local families with young children.

There is already one Children’s Centre in Rye which opened in phase 1.

Lewes

One Children’s Centre due to open:

• Lewes Children’s Centre at the YMCA building in the town. Services will be expanded to include wide-ranging health and family support to young children and their families.

The Children’s Act 2004 gave local authorities strategic responsibility for the planning, development and delivery of children’s centres, although the centres may be managed on behalf of the local authority by other organisations.

Children’s Centres were first set out in the Green Paper, Every Child Matters, part of the Government’s response to Lord Laming’s inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. The main proposals in Every Child Matters were implemented by the Children’s Act 2004.

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