Sopwell & Verulam Children's Centre

How children's centres can help you

There are more than 3,600 children’s centres in England and they were set up to support local young families with children 0 to four years. All Children's Centres aim to provide children with the best start in life, brining all the different support agencies together to offer a range of services to meet you and your child’s needs, all in one place.

Children's Centres are somewhere you and your child can make friends and learn as they play. You can get professional advice on health and family matters, learn about training and job opportunities or just socialise with other people.

Services children's centres must offer:

Children’s centres are developed in line with the needs of the local community so no one children’s centre is the same. However, there is a core set of services they must provide:

• child and family health services, ranging from health visitors to breastfeeding support
• most centres offer high quality childcare and early learning - those that don’t can help advise on local childcare options
  
• advice on parenting, local childcare options and access to specialist services for families like speech therapy, healthy eating advice or help with managing money 
  
• help for you to find work or training opportunities, using links to local Jobcentre Plus offices and training providers

Here at the Children's Centre we believe that children develop and learn best in a positive, encouraging and welcoming play environment where they feel respected and safe to explore. We therefore aim to create this environment within the services we provide, and believe that all children under 5 and their families attending our services are entitled to this