Bracknell

Bracknell Parents and carers will soon have an easier way of accessing services for their children thanks to six new children’s centres set to open across Bracknell Forest.

The centres will be spread across Bracknell borough and will open over the next two years as part of a £1.1million project to bring together services for children aged 0 to 5 under one roof.

Exactly which services are provided at each Bracknell centre will depend on what’s needed locally - there is no single model. For that reason, every centre will be different but they will all provide some education, some family support and some health services.

Children’s centres are being set up across the country and while those in Bracknell Forest will be tailored to local need all children’s centres will include some of the following services:

* Early years provision such as a nursery, after-school club or weekday childcare;
* Family support with advice on parenting or information on child health and development which might be offered through family visits;
* Child and family health services like child health visitors, ante-natal advice, nutrition and healthy eating advice, speech and language support or help to give up smoking;
* Links with Jobscentre Plus and voluntary groups such as Family Information Service which offers advice to parents and carers.

The first children’s centre in Bracknell Forest, called The Rowans Children’s Centre, will open by the middle of this year on the Fox Hill Primary School site in Easthampstead, Bracknell.

Later this year The Oaks Children’s Centre will open in Great Hollands School, followed by a further four centres serving Bracknell town centre, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and the northern parts of the borough.

Cllr Dr Gareth Barnard, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said: "Rather than moving children around to different locations for early years or health services, children’s centres will bring them together in one place.

"We have done our research on priorities in particular areas of the borough so we have a good starting point for the services each centre will provide.

"We will be ready to change and adapt those services according to what local people tell us they need.

"All of this should make it much easier for parents to get the services they need for their children. That is why I am confident the new children’s centres will become indispensable for parents and their children."

Funding for all six centres is being provided by the Department for Education and Skills through its Sure Start scheme.

* The Rowans Children Centre

The Rowans at the Fox Hill Primary School site will be the first children’s centre in Bracknell Forest. It will be based in the refurbished former infant block of the school. An early years and childcare team will be based there along with local health visitors with facilities for school nurses and other professionals. Speech and language therapists will hold drop-in clinics and there will a hall for training courses and group work, a family room and a kitchen. A full time manager will co-ordinate services at the centre.

* Coming soon
* The Oak’s Children’s Centre serving Great Hollands, Birch Hill and Hanworth
* The Rowans Children’s Centre for Easthampstead, Harmans Water, Wildridings, Crown Wood and Old Bracknell
* Family Tree Children’s Centre for Bracknell town centre, Binfield, Priestwood
* The Alders Children’s Centre for Sandhurst, Owlsmoor and College Town
* The Chestnuts Children’s Centre for Crowthorne and Little Sandhurst
* The Maples Children’s Centre for Warfield, Ascot, Winkfield and Cranbourne

Bracknell Forest Borough Council