Children's Centre Parent Consultation
Contents
- What's changing?
- What will Family Hubs offer?
- Why are we carrying out a consultation?
- Maps
- How to have your say
Children's Centres currently support families with children aged 0 to 5 and provide a range of services to help children get a good start to life. Children's Centres in Plymouth will continue their important work supporting families while plans to grow the services they offer in the future are developed, thanks to an innovative new programme.
What's changing?
Plymouth City Council has recently been announced as part of the government's new Start for Life programme which will see the development of Family Hubs across the country with access to additional funding. The aim of the Hubs is to provide a joined-up service that's easy to access for families with children of all ages, where they can access the information, advice and guidance they need. Family Hubs will bring more services together and expand this offer to support those with children aged 0 to 19, or up to 25 years old for young people with special educational needs or disabilities.
Family Hubs offer early support to families to help them overcome difficulties and build strong relationships. Services include help with infant feeding and perinatal mental health support as well as make it easier to access wider support such as smoking cessation and debt and welfare advice. This announcement builds on our ambition to put strong families at the heart of communities, in recognition of how important they are for people's life chances.
The programme will change the way services are delivered over time as the city develops the multi-agency network of support available through Family Hubs. Some buildings used by the children's centres are already shared with partners, such as midwives and health visitors, so options to bring more services together are being considered, while still making sure we meet the needs of local families.
What will Family Hubs offer?
The Start for Life and Family Hubs programme will focus specifically on the following areas:
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Family Hubs are also expected to offer these services to families:
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Why are we carrying out a consultation?
The Family Hubs offer will be developing over the next 2 years in Plymouth and will build on the current Children's Centre offer. The Children's Centres will continue to operate during the opening of the Family Hubs. This consultation seeks views from families on proposed changes as we start our journey towards Family Hubs.
The consultation will open on 21 February 2023 and close at midnight on 15 March 2023.
The first Family Hubs will open by the end of June 2023 with the remaining hubs opening by March 2025 so we will do this in a phased way. The buildings we use need to be able to meet the needs of the whole family in a coordinated way, be somewhere we can co-locate services, be easily accessible to families and well used. We would welcome your thoughts on which Children's Centres you think would be most suitable to become a Family Hub. Please see a summary of the proposals in the table below. We will continue to keep the use of buildings under review so that we can expand the offer into other parts of the city as needed, including how we can make use of other community spaces such as halls and libraries.
Children's Centre (CC) | No. of people accessing* | Proposal for Children's Centre (CC) | Reasons for decision | What this means for parents |
Crownlands (Austin Farm Primary School) | 369
| Re-locate CC registration to Efford Youth Centre (Blandford Road) to become a Family Hub in 2024 (Phase 2). Building to be handed back to the school. | School will benefit from being able to use the CC facilities to enhance their local school community. Crownlands is not a suitable site for a Family Hub due to size, potential for co-location and is not frequently accessed by parents. Efford Youth Centre has capacity for Family Hub staff to be co-located with Youth Workers and provides opportunities for support for a wider range of children. | There will continue to be access to a Children's Centre/Family Hub site in Efford. |
DELL (Blandford Road / High View School) | 144 | Re-locate CC registration to Efford Youth Centre (Blandford Road) to become a Family Hub in 2024 (Phase 2). DELL (Blandford Road) is currently not occupied with staff located between in Efford Youth Centre and Crownlands. DELL High View site to be handed back to the school, this is not a registered CC. | The Family Hub located in Efford Youth Centre would provide an access point on the same road as the previous DELL Children's Centre which has been closed due to repairs needed to the building. The Children's Centre building on the school site is not suitable for a Family Hub due to size, potential for co-location and is not frequently accessed by parents. The school will benefit from being able to use the facilities to enhance their local school community. | There will continue to be access to a Children's Centre/Family Hub site in Efford. |
Fourwoods | 1,249 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2025 (Phase 3). | The site is co-located with a nursery and midwifery service and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery and further co-location. This Family Hub could provide outreach activities in nearby Honicknowle Youth Centre. | No change to current building location. |
Green Ark | 952 | CC registration to remain at same site with CC staff working remotely with some presence in the building alongside midwifery and space offered to other partners. To become a Family Hub in 2024 (phase 2). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a nursery, midwifery service and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery. | No change to current building location. |
LARK (The Beacon) | 778 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2025 (Phase 3). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a library and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery and further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Manor Street | 70 | To move CC registration to Green Ark and offer vacated space to either onsite nursery or other partners. | Manor Street is not a suitable site for a Family Hub due to size, potential for co-location and is not frequently accessed by parents. The nearby Fredrick Street building houses the Council's Targeted Support Teams and could be utilised for delivery of activities within the local area. The building space would be offered to other partners and could be used as outreach. | The service will move to another Children's Centre site in Devonport. |
Morice Town | 751 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2024 (Phase 2). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is next door to a nursery and primary school and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery and co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Nomony | 1,358 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2023 (Phase 1). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a nursery, midwifery service and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery and further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Plum Tree (Rees Centre) | 2,311 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2023 (Phase 1). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a Wellbeing Hub, midwifery service and other services that cater for children, young people and adults of all ages. This site has capacity to expand to further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Plymbridge | 252 | CC registration to move to Southernway. Plymbridge to be become a Stronger Hub for the South West and an outreach site for Family Hubs. | Plymbridge is not a suitable site for a Family Hub due to size, potential for co-location and is not frequently accessed by parents. Early Years setting and South West Stronger Practice Hub location rather than Family Hub due to space available and footfall into the building. | The service will move to another Children's Centre site in Southway |
Plymstock (Rees Centre) | N/A | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2023 (Phase 1). Plymstock CC registration moved from Dunstone School site when it closed in 2021 to the Rees Centre. | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a Wellbeing Hub, midwifery service and other services that cater for children, young people and adults of all ages. This site has capacity to expand to further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Popin (The Beacon) | 268 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2025 (Phase 3). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a library and has capacity to expand to a wider age range for delivery and further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Southernway (Southway Youth Centre) | 149 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2024 (Phase 2). | The site is not utilised frequently by families with children aged 0-5 but is co-located with the Youth Service, community organisations and has capacity to deliver to a wider age range and further co-location. Any activity that would have taken place in Plymbridge CC could take place here. | No change to current building location. |
Sweet Peas (Compton Church Hall) | 230 | Re-locate CC registration to Efford Youth Centre (Blandford Road) to become a Family Hub in 2024 (Phase 2). Compton Church Hall to become an outreach site for Family Hubs. | Sweet Peas is not a suitable site for a Family Hub due to size, potential for co-location and is not frequently accessed by parents. | There will continue to be access to a Children's Centre/Family Hub site in Efford. |
Tamar Folk (Victoria School) | 76 | CC registration to move to The Barn. The office space in Tamar Folk to be offered to other partners. | The site is utilised frequently by families with children aged 0-5 and is co-located with school and CAMHS. However, there is limited access to the building during school holidays and limited opportunities to expand to a wider age range. The re-location to The Barn will allow for delivery and co-location midwives and a range of community organisations with ability to deliver to wider age range. | There will continue to be access to another CC site in The Barn.
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Whitleigh (Four Greens Community Trust) | 811 | CC registration to remain at same site to become a Family Hub in 2023 (Phase 1). | The site is utilised frequently by families and is co-located with a Wellbeing Hub, midwifery service and other services that cater for children, young people and adults of all ages. This site has capacity to expand to further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
The Barn** | 1,422 | Tamar Folk CC registration to move to The Barn and become a Family Hub in 2023 (Phase 1). | The re-location of Tamar Folk CC registration to The Barn will allow for greater delivery and co-location midwives and a range of community organisations with ability to deliver to wider age range and further co-location. | No change to current building location. |
Note: *No. of people registered accessing each CC from Apr to Dec 2022 (Source: e-start). **The Barn is not a registered CC but is an outreach site for Tamar Folk CC. Figures from provider not e-start.
Maps
Registered Children's Centre locations
Proposed Family Hubs locations with Children's Centre locations
How to have your say
If you are interested taking part in the consultation then please complete the Parent and Carer Survey (it only takes a few minutes).
The consultation will close at midnight on 15 March 2023.
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