Sure Start Children’s Centres Practice Guidance

This has been updated to include new sections on working with families and young children in vulnerable groups; latest research evidence; and additional case studies from children’s centres’ experience. It is designed to improve service provision in a number of ways:

Local authorities making better use of information and tailoring services more directly to the needs and interests of families;
There should be greater emphasis on outreach and home visiting, especially with families who are unlikely to visit a children’s centre. The guidance gives clear advice on how to reach all groups;
Children’s centres should offer services that are attractive to parents but not lose sight of their primary purpose - to improve children’s life chances – in particular, by reducing the gap in outcomes between children growing up in disadvantage and the wider population;
Better integrated and joined up working between agencies, allowing information to be shared about where families live. Improved personalisation of the delivery of services, providing them in ways which meet families’ individual needs and encourage take-up; and.
The guidance aims to ensure that good practice becomes common practice, so that no parents or children miss out in the advantages that children’s centres can bring.

The accompanying letter and attached table set out the main changes that have been made to the Practice Guidance, section by section. To download the letter and complete guidance, click here. The Practice Guidance has been produced alongside new Sure Start Children’s Centres Planning and Performance Management Guidance, designed for local authorities.

Planning and Performance Management Guidance for Sure Start Children’s Centres

The new performance management framework is for local authorities and children’s centres to use in annually assessing their performance, particularly in relation to reaching families most at risk of exclusion from mainstream services. The guidance includes an updated planning section, which puts greater emphasis on outreach work and encourages local authorities to adopt a more systematic approach to increasing and monitoring the take up of services by excluded groups. It also includes new sections on involving the private, voluntary and independent sectors.

The performance management system fits within the requirements of the Local Government White Paper and builds on the established Ofsted self-evaluative approach for schools. It includes key performance indicators and a self-evaluation process for local authorities to use with their children’s centres. It brings together both national and local data in a way that allows local authorities and children’s centres the ability to focus on local needs, whilst also being embedded in Every Child Matters and key departmental priorities of ensuring access for the most disadvantaged groups.

To download the complete guidance and the self-evaluation form, click here.