The flagship children’s centre in Corby, Northamptonshire, was asked by Northamptonshire County Council to take over the leadership of Kingswood Children’s Centre, which is based at the opposite side of the town.
As part of its new offering, Pen Green will be opening its first satellite nursery on the site of Corby’s Kingswood Children’s Centre on 31 October. The nursery and children’s centre will be led by Pen Green staff and Governors.
Assistant head, Michele Duffy, told Nursery World, ‘The new Kingswood Community Nursery is based in one of the most deprived wards in the county, where there is a need for more childcare places.
'We will initially provide term-time only sessional care from 9am and 3.30pm for 12 children aged between two and four - all of them are eligible for the 15 hours free entitlement. After the first year, we plan to extend our hours and offer fulltime childcare, based on the needs of the community.’
The nursery is housed on the existing site of Kingswood Children’s Centre, which has been operating since 2007. Part of the building has been extended and refurbished to provide children with a large open plan, free-flow workshop environment. Outdoors there is an extensive garden with trees, wooden bridges, a sandpit and a slide.
Following the local children’s centre consultation which closed at the end of April, the council confirmed a 25 per cent reduction in children's centre funding.
As a result, Pen Green Children’s Centre has amalgamated with Kingswood Children’s Centre and Woodnewton Children’s Centre joined forces with Exeter Children’s Centre, the other two children’s centres in Corby.
Two trusts were created: the Woodnewton Academy Trust and the Pen Green Trust. In order that the children’s centres would work more closely together, the trusts set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) to receive the children’s centre funding from the local authority. The directors of Pen Green and Woodnewton Academy Trust, along with community representatives that sit on the CIC board, decide how the money from the local authority is spent.
A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said, ‘As part of the budget for 2016/17, we agreed in February to reduce funding for children’s centre services by £3million to £7million amid unprecedented demand for local services and reduced funding from central government.
‘In discussion with our providers – Action for Children, Spurgeons and the Corby Children’s Centre Consortium – it was decided that a larger proportion of the funding available for services will be used in areas of greatest need, such as Northampton East and Central, Corby and Wellingborough based upon the latest deprivation data.
‘In Corby, where the children’s centres work in partnership to ensure services are distributed across the town, the changes translated to a 25 per cent reduction in funding, compared with other areas which saw a reduction of up to 47 per cent.’
The Pen Green Centre was set up as a ‘one stop shop’ for families over 30 years ago and was one of the first Centres of Excellence. On-site, it has five other settings offering childcare: three which offer educational nursery provision for children aged three to five years; two birth to three provisions for children from nine months to three years which are fee paying and for two year-old funded children. There is also an onsite crèche. Kingswood Community Nursery is the first nursery to be opened away from the site.
Centre director Margy Whalley said, ‘Nursery schools have a key role to play in taking education and care provision forward in the most challenging community. Children in these communities deserve the very best provision with highly qualified thoughtful staff.’