06/01/04 - New Barrow Team to Improve Early Years & Childcare Services

Cumbria’s Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership has now developed a Barrow local area team, one of six local teams working across the county to ensure the individual family needs of communities are met and quality provision is there for all.  The Partnership, which supports the growth and quality of childcare provision available throughout Cumbria, has developed these teams so that it can respond more quickly and effectively to local needs.

County Councillor Joan Stocker, Cabinet Spokesperson for Education says

“Listening to parents and carers needs is at the heart of developing specific services for local communities. The whole aim of the team is to develop new childcare places and support existing groups such as full day-care, breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, crèches, playgroups, childminders, home and home childcarers thereby providing local choice for parents.  This is done by working with partners in the statutory, voluntary, private and community sectors.  There are many innovative schemes already running throughout the County meeting the needs of their local community and I hope this excellent work continues with the support of these new teams.” 

Kerry Walker, the Senior Development Worker for Barrow says, 

“The team members have great experience in all areas of childcare and early education.  We are working with all childcare providers in Barrow to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of the children and parents of Barrow.” 

An example of one of the innovative schemes currently running in Barrow is the new ‘virtual’ Children’s Centre.  Not housed in one defined building, the Children’s Centre will, in effect, be a roving array of services established in a variety of locations throughout the borough.  Kerry Walker says:   

“It’s an initiative from Cumbria’s Early Years and Childcare Service but it reflects the aims and aspirations of the Government’s Sure Start programme which emphasises the importance of combined childcare and health and education opportunities for communities.  Barrow has some of the most deprived wards in the county - partly as a result of ongoing economic restructuring - and it is vital that resources are expanded and adapted to meet the needs on the ground.  A £600,000 proposal, awaiting County Council approval, would see the Children’s Centre operating out of two existing buildings on Bram Longstaffe and Greengate, but using other community locations wherever possible, such as schools and community centres.  It’s about taking the services out to the people, and not about expecting them to come to the services so a community centre could be brought up to Ofsted standards for nursery use but other professional such as health visitors, speech therapists, community support workers and midwives could visit the centre on a need basis.”

To contact your local Area Team ring the Children’s Information Service on 08457 125737.