ChangeThinking with SmithMartin

Category: Children’s Centres

Children’s Centres Ofsted Inspection Changes

From April 2013 Ofsted have made changes to the inspection framework for Sure Start Children’s Centres The main changes are in a reduced set of judgements, from 20 to 4, and a change…

Parent’s Participation Research at Daycare Trust

Parents’ Forum at Granard Children’s Centre in Wandsworth Daycare Trust has been exploring the range of volunteering opportunities and parent participation initiatives being managed by local authorities and Children’s Centres in England. The…

Happy Christmas from SmithMartin LLP

Daycare Trust and Family Parenting Institute to form one new organisation

The Daycare Trust and the Family and Parenting Institute are to merge under a new name from next year, the charities have announced. (Image courtesy of Daycare Trust) This is exciting news for…

Volunteering in Children’s Centres

Children’s Centres and Volunteering is just the start… (Image courtesy of Pleasent Valley Children’s Centre) What better way is there for parents to get involved in their local Children’s Centre than through volunteering…

Technological Children’s Centres

We have recently enjoyed being commissioned by Hornsey Road Children’s Centre in Islington to supply and fit their new IT suite and display screens. The Team at Family Action were successful in raising…

A Better Beginning:
Easing the Cost of Childcare

An interesting report from The Social Market Foundation explores a new way to support the affordability of formal childcare for working parents. It is based on a similar approach to the student loans…

Funding childcare – Westminster’s new way

Nothing new in the fact that childcare is hard to afford and the cost remains one of the biggest barriers to accessing high quality early years education. The good news is the extension…

Sure Start Children’s Centres
– still at the heart of communities

    Some startling figures emerging about Children’s Centre closures…     In November the government confirmed that 124 Sure Start centres had closed, (Children and Young People Now). In addition, there is…

Daycare Trust Conference
November 2011

Childcare policy and the wider role of the community was the focus of the Daycare Trust annual conference in London on 22 November. A subject one would expect to have been well and…