Nursery World - Rural areas get off to Sure Start

The number of designated Sure Start areas rose by 66 last week, bringing the total in England to 260 - ten more than the Government's target for 2001/02. Six of the new areas are rural - Oswestry in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Cumbria, Berwick-upon-Tweed, North Devon and Cornwall. Until now there has been only one rural Sure Start project, the bright yellow 'Bendy Bus' a mobile service for families with young children in East Anglia's Fenland. It provides a creche, toy library and meeting area for drop-in sessions and is equipped with video-conferencing and computer facilities.

Six of the new areas are rural - Oswestry in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Cumbria, Berwick-upon-Tweed, North Devon and Cornwall. Until now there has been only one rural Sure Start project, the bright yellow 'Bendy Bus' a mobile service for families with young children in East Anglia's Fenland. It provides a creche, toy library and meeting area for drop-in sessions and is equipped with video-conferencing and computer facilities.

Sure Start was launched in April 1999 to tackle child poverty by giving families of young children in deprived areas better access to childcare, education, health and social provision. The new projects are the fourth wave of the scheme, adding to the 128 already in place and 66 which are developing their plans. Last year's Comprehensive Spending Review allocated up to Pounds 20m for Sure Start programmes with the aim of doubling the number of schemes.

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