History

The partnership at Gardners Lane began in 1998 by relocating a social services family centre, a resource for children with special needs and a local community nursery into one unit on the same site as a primary school.

This has created an opportunity for families in our area to access a range of services and information in one place.

Centre Focus

The partnerships between Health, Education and Social services has created an opportunity for families in our area to access a range of services and information in one place that meets their needs. Thus the centres prime focus is to:

• Protect children, support families and promote welfare of children in need.
• Provide high quality nursery education and pre-nursery education
• Integrate children with special needs into mainstream provision
• Provide training opportunities for adults and support family learning initiatives.

We offer a range of flexible services, which include:

• Nursery Education and Childcare
• Family Learning
• Family Support and outreach to parents
• Specialist support through partnerships
• Outreach work
• Child and Family Health Services
• Links to Job Centre Plus.

In addition we work closely with Exdended Services  www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/schoolsnet/index.cfmwith in our cluster which includes partnership working with Gardners Lane, Christchurch Church of England, St Gregory the Great, Dunalley, Gloucester Road and Swindon Village.

Centre of Excellence Status

In July 2002, the centre received national recognition as a centre of Early Excellence and joined centres across England and Wales to act as Beacon centre for early years provision, and act as models of good practice.

The recognition as a centre of excellence has brought vital funding needed to improve the existing services and quality of the building, the outside play areas and further expand the range of services we can provide to support the local community. It will also enable us even more closely with our partners Health, Social Services, Education and Voluntary groups.

The Children's centre operates an open to all policy. However, some places are reserved for referrals from the LEA, Health and Social services.