Instead of lugging babies, young children and all the paraphernalia associated with them on to a bus and trekking into town, parents in the Orchard Park and University wards of Hull will soon be in pram-pushing distance of a network of integrated family services.
They will be able to undertake training in new skills while their children are being cared for in the same building, or access housing advice before nipping to a Baby Gym session. Above all, help and information will be a stroll away in familiar and friendly surroundings.
McMillan Children's Centre is due to be fully operational in September this year. It will predominantly serve two large council estates in an area of high social disadvantage. The estates are characterised by high unemployment, a substantial number of single parent families and a very low ethnic mix.
The centre will bring together:
* McMillan Nursery School
* Sure Start Northern Hull
* Hull College of Further Education
* Hull Childminding Network
* Fifth Avenue Primary School
* West Hull Primary Care Trust
* Hull City Council Child and Family Services.
'By all the partners working together, we hope to develop a service provision which appears seamless to the children and their families, from pre-birth to 11 years old, and with adults in the community who are training,' says Angela Stones, headteacher at McMillan Nursery School and chair of the McMillan Children's Centre company management board.
Building up
A 2.5m new two-storey building comprises two main sections:
* A family centre occupied by Hull Social Services staff
* A childcare and adult training facility.
Both sections are accessed through a shared reception area in the centre of the building. The new building is adjacent to McMillan Nursery School and linked by a covered walkway. Fifth Avenue Primary School, West Hull Primary Care Trust and Sure Start Northern Hull's McMillan Centre also share the same land. The site is provided by Hull City Council, which will retain ownership of the new building.
The children's centre has the support of Hull City Council, National Sure Start and the DfES. It is funded from a number of sources:
* Northern Hull Sure Start: 520,000
* Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative: 162,000
* Children's Centre Initiative: 60,000
* European Regional Development Fund: 335,000
* Social Services: 940,000.
On offer
The children's centre will deliver a range of services, including: Nursery school The existing McMillan Nursery School provides 105 fulltime equivalent places in three mixed age classes of children aged from three to five years old. Specialist staff will offer early identification and support for children with special needs and their families.
Daycare A new 45-place day nursery, operating from 7.30am to 6pm, 50 weeks a year. It is being set up by a consultancy firm and will open in July. The day nursery will offer:
* 12 places for ages six months to two years
* 16 places for ages two to three years
* 17 places for ages three to four.
At the moment social services have to bus children out of the area to access daycare.
Training Hull College of Further Education will provide training suites for hairdressing, childcare, ICT and catering. There will also be basic skills courses which will include computer literacy, basic literacy and pathways to further and higher education. It is hoped that construction and plumbing courses will be offered in the future.
A hundred locals each year are expected to access training at the centre in order to gain skill-based qualifications and enhance their employment prospects. Annually at least half of these are anticipated to get employment as a result of the training.
Sure Start Northern Hull Midwifery services, sexual health, parent and baby support, health visiting, play development, speech and language development, early years literacy and community participation services are among the services provided (see box).
Social services Child and family services will relocate to the children's centre from an unsuitable building half a mile away. Services include support for families at risk, a keyworker system for families experiencing difficulties and advice about rights and benefits.
West Hull Primary Care Trust will offer services in the day nursery, such as immunisation, health checks and drop in sessions for parents.
Additional services There are collaborative arrangements with Fifth Avenue Primary School, which is to become an extended school, the Hull Childminding Network and Job Centre Plus.
Childminding will be part of the childcare options that the centre offers.
The children's centre will hold sessions for childminders where they will be able to discuss professional issues and access children's activities that are not as easily provided in the home.
In partnership
The children's centre is jointly managed by McMillan Nursery School and Sure Start Northern Hull. It is overseen by a board with representatives from all the partners, plus parents and community members.
Ms Stones says, 'We already have excellent working relations with our partners -which does not always seem to be the case.
'In February we had a visioning day, which was a chance for us to all share our ideas. We were able to meet each other and explain what our individual jobs involve. When we all get together it helps us to find out how our roles overlap and how we can work together.'
She adds, 'We want to work with the family as a unit and not just meet statistics by putting the children into childcare and getting the parents training. We want to provide the services that families choose to access, which is why it is important to have direct input from parents and the community.'
The Children's House Consultancy, set up by a Lincolnshire private nursery, has won a contract worth 40,000 to support the children's centre and the development of full daycare. The consultancy will also advise the management board. Sylvia Archer, Children's House Consultancy director, says, 'Good communication across all parties is essential on both a strategic and operational level. Operationally we will be working with staff in the nursery school and children's centre to make sure that we deliver a service that meets the local community's needs. On a strategic level, we will be helping to co-ordinate the relevant agencies to meet targets and to plan how the centre will move forward.
'It is important to make sure no relevant partners are left out and everyone is engaged and sharing information.
'We will be advising the nursery head and listening to the needs of the staff, parents and children, because they all influence the services the centre offers. There is an obvious need for a flexible service to meet the area's needs.'
SURE START NORTHERN HULL
Parents with children up to four years old can already access a range of health and family support services, including: Sexual health services A full-time sexual health nurse has the role of preventing teenage pregnancy and raising awareness of sexual health. The service includes a drop-in clinic for local people to access contraception and sexual health advice, free condoms and pregnancy tests.
Shirley Tether, sexual health nurse for Sure Start Northern Hull says, 'This ward has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the country, which is why we put such an emphasis on sexual health. The programme has been running for almost five years.
'We hope that, if a teenager is pregnant, we can help prevent a second pregnancy through education and advice. I visit teenagers within three weeks of their baby being born and help put together a contraception package. It is important to visit early on because many don't realise they can get pregnant again so soon after giving birth.
'Preventing an unwanted second pregnancy is important in teenagers because they then have a good chance of getting back into education, back into training and back into the workforce. This will hopefully give them and their child a better standard of living which is, of course, the whole ethos of Sure Start - to give the child the best start they can achieve.'
Keys project The project supports single parents under the age of 21 who have secured tenancy. Tenants are assisted with their finances and given advice on issues such as reducing anti-social noise and accessing help.
'The housing department noticed that young families were often unable to keep up their tenancy because they did not have the support they needed and encountered problems such as rent arrears or their friends coming around to the house and neighbours complaining about the noise,' says Vernie Tether, health visitor for Sure Start Northern Hull.
Practical support workers These workers assist families, referred by Sure Start, social workers or health vistors, with jobs around the home such as decorating, household repairs, gardening and erecting fences. For example, a mother wanted to fit carpet in her children's bedroom, so a practical support worker helped her measure up, work out cost, buy the carpet and then helped lay it.
