Children's Centres

Children's Centres are networks of locality based services from the private, voluntary and maintained sectors that serve children and families across Newcastle. Children's Centres are based around locality areas and provide integrated care and education for young children, health services, family support as well as being a base for childminders.

Children's Centres will provide holistic support for children's development, support to families with young children and parenting support appropriate to the needs of member of each community.

How are Children's Centres being developing in Newcastle?

The integration of services at a locality level is being achieved across the whole of Newcastle through development of Children's Centres and Extended Schools.

In Newcastle 10 children's centres were developed in Phase 1 of the programme (2004 - 2006) with a further 6 were developed in Phase 2 (2006 - 2008).

Background

Every Child Matters Green Paper (2003)
Published alongside the formal response to the report into the death of Victoria Climbié. The Green Paper focussed on 4 key themes:

Supporting families and carers
Early Intervention
Addressing accountability and poor integration
Valuing, rewarding and training the workforce 2004

Every Child Matters: Change for Children (2004)
Change for children is the programme to deliver improvements to the whole system of children's services locally and nationally. It provides a national framework of expectations and accountability in which Local Authority led change programmes will operate, each designed to address local priorities for children, young people and families.

Sure Start Children's Centre Practice Guidance (2006)
This guidance outlines how Children's Centres are key to the achievement of Every Child Matters Outcomes and describes them as a "new, permanent arm of the Welfare State". In particular, this Guidance details what elements of the Children's Centre Core Offer may look like as well as identifying particular groups that should be reached.

This guidance confirms that by 2010 there will be a Children's Centre for every community, so that all families with young children can access services.

What is 'Name that Team'?

Each Children's Centre has a well developed communication strategy, in order to be as inclusive as possible. These documents are called 'Name that Team'.

To access contact details for all Children's Centres, please visit the Children's Centres page on the Newcastle City Council website. (external link)

To access the relevant Name that Team, please see below.

Armstrong Sure Start Childrens Centre

Armstrong - Name That Team (536.6 KB pdf)

Cowgate and Blakelaw Sure Start Childrens Centre

Cowgate and Blakelaw - Name That Team (571 KB pdf)

Cowgate and Blakelaw Childrens Centre Website (External Link)

East, Fossway Sure Start Childrens Centre East

East and Fossway - Name That Team (586.3 KB pdf)

East and Fossway Childrens Centre Website (External Link)

Fenham

Fenham and North Fenham for Wingrove Ward - Name That Team (656.2 KB pdf)