AIBU that the Tories were mad to close sure start centres?

[Tristar15]

Has anyone else seen the report today about the impact of Sure Start Centres? It’s great that they had such an impact but why did the Tories close them? Did they just want something that had been a success under Labour gone?
Labour haven’t committed to reopening them by the way but there is currently nothing plugging the gap and it will be years until the impact of what the Tories say replaced them will be seen (not that I’m expecting this to have anywhere near the impact Sure Start had).

Those are quite some outcomes - increase in GCSE grades of 0.8 for all who lived near a centre, and of 3 grades for those on FSM.

@Groveparker01 Spot on.

We are paying the price now.
Fucking tories

Sure Start Centres were created from previous Sure Start programmes as part of the Every Child Matters programme. Michael Gove cancelled Every Child Matters literally the day after the Conservatives came to power in 2010: https://politicsandinsights.org/2012/11/11/every-child-doesnt-matter-a-summary-of-remembering-when-every-child-mattered/

Our sure start was a godsend for me.

I was renting a family friends house in a real MC area as I came back to uk with ds just before he turned 2.

The surestart was in a real area of deprivation literally a mile max down the road.

I made friends, attended groups, got help and support. They also ran a breakfast and AsC that ran a minibus to local school - due to my working hours I didnt need the full asc session and so they charged me £5 a week just for bus.

They fully supported me when ds went through his asd assesment.

They supported a lot of families by meeting their individual needs. It was an absolute godsend for me.

I love the fact it was used by people from all walks of life. You felt less alone knowing personal circumstances had no reflection - we were all parents wanting to do the best. We all had a shard goal regardless of what our circumstances were outside the centre.

Labour should use this in their campaigning so much more than they do!

@TheGreenManalishiWithTheTwoProngedCrown I worked for Connexions at the time - we where told to take the ECM posters down within the week of them getting in - sent a real message - every child DOESN'T matter - which they have continued to confirm.

I had children in the surestart heyday and it was fab, incredibly diverse, everyone I knew signed up for this Incredible Years parenting course and then it dawned on us that half the attendees were compelled to be there but we were all in the same boat and all got an insight into each others lives. I was a bit in the middle as was raised MC I suppose but absolutely dirt poor at this point. You would be so much more likely to send your child to the local school or just understand where you lived better. Plus all the opportunities to access speech therapy, HV, professionals you could tell you were struggling etc or to volunteer yourself. I did that and ended up training as a MW and the receptionist went to medical school!

I've ended up buying a house in an area deprived enough to retain a family hub and as it's used only for targeted support, it's a neglected and stigmatised shell of what they once were.

This thread is making me wonder whether they worked best in densely populated city areas with good public transport though.

I used to manage a surestart centre and I know we changed peoples lives. They were a lifeline for some parents. I am now a teacher and it is shocking at the lack of support for families. Services are overwhelmed and I do feel that mental health was better and there was more of a community feel.
These days it is everyone out for themselves.

I used to work for Sure Start and was devastated when austerity came along and virtually destroyed the service. It makes me angry even now. I think it was the best government initiative I have ever known and it was clear to me the impact that it had on families. One of the best things was that local parents were involved in deciding what support was needed in that particular area. We wete there for everyone in the community, we worked hard at building trusting, non-judgemental relationships and had the time and resources to really make a difference. Since leaving I have worked as a teacher in EYFS. I really believe that a lot of the issues I see now eg unidentified SEN, lack of toilet training, poor communication skills, poor diet and a general lack of parenting skills/ confidence would be significantly improved had Sure Start continued. We used to run school readiness classes, speech and language groups and parenting classes which I think really filled a gap. Now I see a lot of parents who seem isolated and lacking confidence in their parenting. I was glad that the recent research backs up what I believe about the value of Sure Start but it also made me quite sad 😔

I genuinely believe some proper investigative journalism needs to be conducted on Michael Gove. I believe he’s a very damaged person. He’s been behind many of the most destructive issues initiated by government. Starting from his time as Education Secretary where he and his sidekick Dominic Cummings severely damaged the sector. They then went on to spearhead Brexit. He also closed lots of programmes aimed at the young. Actually when you think about it, nearly all of his ideas appear to focus on fucking things up for young people.

He also helped Michelle Mone steal a shit load of taxpayer money and somehow got away with it. He’s a nefarious person who manages to cover it up by speaking so politely but he’s definitely malevolent.

That was our issue, postcode dependent you could only use if you lived in certain area, none of the families in these areas would engage with 'formal' services, no attendees no funding..despite parents would have attended, just not from their selected area.

I had my first baby at 20 and was referred by the HV to a group at the local SureStart that was especially for young mums. There was a lovely group of us all aged around 18-21 with babies a similar age. I was new to the town and had no friends, so it made a huge difference and I’m still friends with some of the girls now 12 years on. We did something different each week like weaning/cooking, baby massage, baby yoga, first aid course etc. All free.

The centre is still open now but has FAR less groups and things going on.

They ran groups for under fives,hv worked from them as did nurse practitioners and nursery nurses. So if you had a concern you could grab one them during a session. Antenatal services, counselling, events. Family support staff.

They were designed to be a hub of the community a place for parents to access advice and support without wait lists.

There was 3 levels of children's centres -

Ones in deprived areas
Ones in middling areas
Ones in affluent areas.

The ones in affluent areas have all been sold/shut. The middle tier are either ran remotely so no staff work there permanently but they may run sessions or they have been shut. The ones in deprived areas are still open some full time some part time

We have 9 Children's Centres in our London boroughs. They run Stay and Play sessions, music and dance sessions, a few each day to there's always something going on within walking distance. They do HV checks there and some workshops, cooking courses, weaning classes and support groups for parents too. They used to be called Sure Start centres but the name has changed. We live on a border with the next borough and also go to some centres in the next borough too (just because the toys are a bit better).

Yes the removal of Every Child Matters was very symbolic.

As a new mum, I knew no one, I didn’t speak to a soul for 4 months after dd birth. I had severe pnd and ptsd. Then one day I had an invitation to go to a baby weaning session at the children’s centre and somehow I got there. Those mums became friends and we supported each other. When dd was 9 months old, there was a series of classes about bonding. I left half way through the first session as my pnd made me feel so guilty. The leader noticed I had gone and contacted me. I broke down on the phone and that led to counselling and the start of the end of pnd. Without SureStart, those things wouldn’t have happened.

Is this true across the country? I live in a deprived borough and our Sure Start centre was shut faster than a bolt of lightning.

Our local one closed because no-one was using it. The staff really tried to push me to come but location - wise it wasn't ideal. Shame, the local area isn't great and has it's issues and it could have befitted the local families.

Yes we had 4 - only one remains -open part time and mainly used as a contact centre - I worked in an area of high social depravation - all of them closed within 4 years of this Gov getting in along with the youth centres

Don’t want to get into the obvious political dimensions but investment before age 5 is shown to generate the biggest bang for your buck in terms of actually achieving reductions in inequalities. That evidence is robust and international.

'Sure Start was a lifeline for my children – and taught me to be a good mother’

This was i newspaper today

Oh, sorry link didn't work

All 4 London boroughs I work across and the area I live in outside London still have multiple children's centres, which carry out all the functions described as being done by sure start centres. The (labour) Council in 2 of the boroughs tried to close a couple but came up against massive opposition from local people. So many sure start centres are still around, but under a different name

I’ve recently had a baby, and certainly can tell such huge differences in the support on offer for EVERY parent and EVERY child that (used to) matter. Like many posters, the centre I used 16 years ago, was populated by all ‘classes’ and that was a huge benefit, in my opinion. There was no stigma attached to using the centres… yes, some parents used them they could afford to pay for classes, and other professional support. But you don’t get the kind of community support in some many areas of early years, by paying to go to baby ballet, baby sensory groups and the like. The centres had everything under one roof, always someone there to talk to… it’s a tragedy that this has almost all but gone now.