The Leveller is worried about Children's Centres co-located with schools.
Wht? Loads of reasons... ...Let's face it early years has always been the poor relation in education circles. For a start it's non-statutory, and in the highly competative school world that means it's low status. Another thing - in the Leveller's experience many schools are like islands in their neighbourhoods, inward looking and self-excluding from everything else around them. To be fair the Extended Schools initiative has had some impact in changing attitudes a little, but I'm still worried.
To begin with there seems to be a lack of understanding of what Children's Centres are there to achieve. Ok, many schools are complex and very intense busy places. In addition, schools get Centres handed to them on a plate, they don't really have to do a lot to change the way that they do things. The Leveller has heard a number of Heads proclaim that the Centre must 'fit in with the school'.
The Leveller is concerned about poor access to Childrens's Centres during holiday periods. There can be problems with key staff being on hoilday and large sections of buildings / facilities being shut down during holiday periods.
Lets face it some schools are less welcoming than they could be. A school my own daughter went to wouldn't let parents come inside the building when waiting to collect them even in the most foul weather and parents were not welcome in the classrooms except on very special occaisions - a very different ethos from early years. Sadly schools are often stigmatised places where more vulnerable parents feel very uncomfortable. The presence of these factors would compromise the prospects for success of co-located Children's Centres.
One of the major concerns I have about Children's Centre's co-located with schools is the way in which Children's Centres workers roles are blurred and stretched across the school environment. Examples I have regularly come across are:
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Family Support Workers asked to work across the full Children's Centre and School age range - While this may sound ok to some, to me it is simply using early years funding to deliver school services.
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Family Support Workers that have to work so flexibly they are asked at turn to work in the nursery, on reception or in a creche. In this type of scenario there will be no quality and little impact on parents.
The major problem seems to be the fact that within some schools early years Children's Centre services are treated as being secondary to the mainstream school services. While this situation is allowed to continue Children's Centres based in schools risk being a major dissappointment.