The Children's Centre Plan for Gateshead looks ahead to 2010 when all young children in Gateshead will benefit from fully integrated inclusive preschool services and every community will have a Children's Centre. It focuses on how early year’s services for children aged 0 to 4 years and 11 months will be integrated through Children’s Centres.
The core services available in Children’s Centres will be; health; education and childcare; family support; adult learning and pathways into work, and an information hub for the local community. Partnerships across the sectors will be strengthened to deliver better outcomes for children.
The first phase of Children’s Centres has already begun to be implemented in Gateshead. The Blaydon/Winlaton Children's Centre is fully approved and by 2006 there will be ten centres across the Borough. The Flagship Children's Centre will be opened in 2007 in central Gateshead. This document sets out the way forward for completing this implementation and for developing the second phase work and beyond. As the development of Children's Centres is still at an early stage, this plan focuses on the key priority areas such as service integration, governance and management models and how they will be implemented in Gateshead. This will form the building blocks for the future of Children’s Centres and their sustainability.
This Plan sets Children's Centres in the national context of Every Child Matters, The 10 Year Childcare Strategy, the Children's Bill 2005, and the Children’s Act 2004. It also puts the Plan in a local context and details the key outcomes it will achieve. In addition, this important first Plan sets out the governance and monitoring arrangements for Children’s Centres in Gateshead. Covering the period from October 2005 to September 2010, the Plan will be reviewed on an annual basis.
Services will build on existing early years and childcare provision and will contribute to the 5 outcomes outlined in Every Child Matters for children aged 0-5 years. The strategic objectives identified are built around these five outcomes:
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Be Healthy;
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Be Safe;
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Enjoy and Achieve;
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Make a Positive Contribution;
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Achieve Economic Well-Being.
This will involve consultation with families who use the services, schools, pre schools, family support and health services, local communities and voluntary and private sectors.