Children's Centres

Children's Centres

Children's Centres are early years and childcare settings providing a wide range of high quality family support, early learning and childcare services to local families. They are sited on or close to a primary school wherever possible.

The key features of a Children’s Centre include:

• A qualified Early Years Teacher will lead the development of learning within each centre
• A range of parenting, family support and family health services will be available
• Day care is available in some Children's Centres or in other settings in the local area

In Bristol, nine Children’s Centres were developed in Phase 1 of the programme (2004 - 2006) and a further 15 were developed in Phase 2 (2006 – 2008). Phase 3 ensured that by March 2010 every community has access to a Sure Start Children's Centre.
The level of services are tailored to meet the different needs of each community, fitting around existing provision.

Children's Centres in less deprived areas of the city are not required to provide childcare, however they will deliver family support services to the community.

For more detailed information, see our presentation on Children’s Centres in Bristol. (pdf, 400 KB)

Children's Centres to receive details of children in their area

A new Information Sharing Protocol (pdf, 194 KB) has been agreed between Health and Bristol City Council. This means that  Children's Centres now receive details of all new children born in their area and all children aged 0-5 who have recently moved into their area (registered with GPs)This is enabling Children's Centres to contact all families to invite them to access family support and other services and to meet other families in the area. In addition, Children's Centres and partner agencies can ensure that families who might find it most difficult to access services are given help and support and that their children are given the best start in life.