The Sure Start partnership board in Salford, Manchester, building on the success of a programme in Seedley and Langworthy, is extending its scope with fresh help for babies and young children, while launching a new programme in nearby Winton.
Councillor John Warmisham, chair of the partnership, said, 'Sure Start aims to ensure that all babies and pre-school children have access to the best possible opportunities to enable them to reach their potential.' The extension of the Seedley and Langworthy project includes:
* two visits to mothers during their pregnancy by a midwife
* three visits by a health visitor, just before and after the birth
* monthly monitoring visits for a year
* a play visit by a nursery nurse when a baby is 13 months old
* an 18-month developmental assessment by a health visitor or nursery nurse
* a three-year developmental assessment by a health visitor or nursery nurse.
Councillor Warmisham said that Sure Start had helped to combat the shortage of registered childminders in the area. 'Many women have been reluctant in the past to become registered because of all the form-filling, but we can help guide them through this on the programme.'
Health visitors, midwives and nursery nurses have been running stalls at festivals and joining in roadshows and meetings to explain how Sure Start can help in both areas of Salford which are designated as among the most deprived in the country.
Prior to the successful Sure Start bid in Winton, the community was extensively consulted, with 500 local people helping to contribute to the plan through participatory appraisal techniques which included a stakeholder conference last year.