At the time we began our work in Firth Park, it was one of our priority areas and had within it a brand new Children’s Centre – ‘First Start’.
We soon set up a regular drop in which was held in the foyer of the centre capturing the interests of parents attending the baby and antenatal clinics. This drop in has continued to flourish and is available on the 3rd Thursday in every month from 10.30 – 12.30. It has the added advantage of being accessible to parents attending the stay and play sessions ‘Baby Babbles’ and also parents bringing their children to nursery.
The centre also boasts a very good café used by all the community, which assists the delivery of information to older groups of children and adults (and grandparents etc). Our aim was to reach as many parents as possible and provide an information service which was not only accurate and up to date but also accessible and friendly, helping parents to access the information that they needed.
The children’s centre is not the place in the area where we've been working. We’ve also been involved with a group which was set up to improve the number of free education places in the area. This has increased the number of places over the past year to bridge a gap in provision and hopefully provide a free education place for every 3–5 year old that needs one.
Our involvement with transition days in the area at primary schools when children were moving from nursery up to ‘big school’ has also helped parents find information about childcare, out of school clubs etc. or what to do in the holidays.
In addition we’ve visited parent and toddler groups in and around Firth Park to give an information service to parents if they need it.
Our work in the area continues and our plans for the future to reach many more parents include:
- talks to groups using our community language speakers;
- talks around information on our fact sheets
- support given to parents whose children have additional needs
- more information about careers in childcare from our specialist team.
If you would like a talk or a drop in for parents, parents evening etc. please email us or give us a ring on 0114 2494940.
