Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said she believed the successful events staged in June could be the spur to develop lasting partnerships on key issues, and planning should get under way for June 2003. She added, 'On the whole, this year saw organisations doing their own thing, but there is the potential there for more partnership on major campaigns.'
Mrs Murphy said that although coverage in the local and regional press had been extensive, a more concerted effort needed to be made to target the national media.
The NDNA helped to kick off the national events in June with a sunflower growing challenge among nursery children to raise money for the charity Water Aid. Other events included the Excellence in Childcare awards, attended by the prime minister's wife, Cherie Booth, and Nursery World's children's art competition with the winners displayed in the Royal Academy of Arts.
National Childcare Month was organised by the Daycare Trust with the NDNA, the National Childminding Association, the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA) and the Kids' Club Network, and was supported by the Department for Education and Skills.
PLA chief executive Margaret Lochrie said it was the first time the main national organisations had joined up with the DfES 'to promote the value of childcare' and added, 'We look forward to repeating and building on our success next year.'
In a joint statement the chief executives of the main participating organisations said, 'There are a lot of people saying that awareness events don't work any more, but that is definitely not the case with our first-ever National Childcare Month. Everyone has benefited - children, parents, childcarers and employers have all learned something they didn't know before about the good things that childcare can bring.'