Children's Centres

Croydon Children's Centres are here!

Our centres are for all families with babies and under 5s living in Croydon.  We are working with schools, community groups and private companies to set up centres all over the borough.  We want to be able to offer services, support and advice to families wherever they live in Croydon from the south in Coulsdon to the north in Upper Norwood.

What are Croydon Children's Centres?

Our centres are places for all families with young children offering activities, support and information for parents, carers and children.  They are open to all and you do not need an appointment to come along.  Most of our centres will provide services not only at the centre itself, but also at other places around their local area to make sure that everyone who needs a service has an opportunity to access it easily.

What will be in our Centres?

Our centres will offer the kind of services and information you will need as a parent or carer with a baby or young child, things like:

• Health visitors on site and providing regular services like breastfeeding support, baby clinics, nutrition and post natal groups.
   
• Childcare like full time daycare, morning and afternoon daycare, breakfast clubs and after school clubs.  A number of our bigger centres will be open from 8am to 6pm for 48 weeks of the year, to provide full time childcare, other centres will offer half-day sessional care depending on what parents and carers need in the local area.  All of our childcare will involve a specialist teacher to provide expertise in early years education.
   
• Information about local Childminders who are part of the Council's quality assurance scheme so that you know who is available to provide good quality childminding for your children.
   
• Drop-ins and Stay and Plays for parents and carers to bring their babies and children to play with each other, meet other parents, have an opportunity to talk to our Family Support Workers about any concern or question you might have about your baby.
   
• Croydon's Children's Information Service will have displays and leaflets in each centre about services and activities like summer playschemes for children of all ages.
   
• Jobs, careers and training information for parents and carers who are thinking about looking for work following the birth of their child or who are thinking about changing careers, and want to know what is out there for them.

Who are our Centres for?

Our centres are for all families with children aged under 5 years and they are open to all.  Every service, apart from childcare, will either be offered at no charge or at a small, affordable cost.  We want to encourage parents and carers, and children of course, to tell us what you need from the centres and work with us to make sure you get what you need.

Where are our Centres?

Our centres are springing up everywhere!  Between now and 2011, we will be establishing up to 27 centres, and by April 2008, 20 centres will be up and running all or some services.  Most of our centres will be set up within primary or nursery schools and some are being run by charities in partnership with the Council.

Where can I get more information?

Please contact the Children's Information Service who can provide you with all kinds of information on centres. If they do not know the answer, they will certainly be able to find someone who does. They can be contacted by phone on 0845 11 11 100, at their shop at 10 Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9 1JU or at this website www.croydonchildcare.com.

We will be setting up a webpage as part of the Children's Services Directory that will give you information about all of the centres in the borough, and you will be able to link to it from this webpage.  Watch this space!

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Saturday, 5 July, 2008

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