The Heart of the Community: Remembering Sure Start
Sure Start wasn’t just a service — it was the beating heart of the community. Its absence still leaves a gap that no other provision has fully filled.”
As part of my Early Years Teacher Status I was given the opportunity to gain some experience in a Sure Start centre based in a coastal town. I never really knew or appreciated what a Sure Start was or what it provided - initially I had assumed that it was a place for young children to play and on my first day I soon realised how wrong I was.
The Origins of Sure Start
In 1998 under Toni Blair’s New Labour government, a promise was made to tackle child poverty and to provide additional support in early years development. Sure Start centres were created as a way to support our most vulnerable families to ensure that early intervention is put in place. They were designed to bring together health, education, and social services all under one roof for families with young children to access - simplifying the process and ensuring cross-collaboration of professional teams. Services provided were grounded in research on early childhood development and community-based support. Although there were typical services that all Sure Start centres offered, uniquely there were also additional resources that were context specific to the needs of the community that they were serving - making provision specialised and relevant. This innovative approach helped restore something that had long felt lost: a true sense of community.
🎶 Down by the Sea 🎶
For those who do not live in coastal towns, you might assume that it is a idyllic place to live. This might be true if you are a family with a good income and a mode of transport, however for many families a coastal town can be very isolating with little contact to the outside world with limited job opportunities. Sure Start centres provided those families with services that helped alleviate pressure and feel connected.
I was based at this centre for only a week and in that time I was able to experience only a snapshot of what they offered. Services including (inhales deep breath); child health services, breastfeeding support, groups for new parents, sleep & weaning workshops, speech & language therapy, drop in physio sessions, parenting courses in child development & mental health, stay & play sessions, music therapy, support groups for women and children experiencing domestic violence, housing clinic, specialised support for children with SEND, cookery classes, clothing swap shop, coffee and walk by the sea for mums and their young children… (exhales deeply!). These are just a few of the many wonderful services that Sure Start provided for our families and communities. I was lucky enough to experience this first hand, and I am still shocked to this day that we no longer have these centres in our communities any longer!
Impact on the Community
This may surprise you to hear this, but as soon as the Tory government got into power, the budget cuts started to happen and on the top of the chopping block was sadly our wonderful Sure Start centres. Many centres became rebranded, merged and more often than not closed. With these services no longer being easily accessible to our most vulnerable families, many became isolated or even lost in a complex system, which even the most skilled and educated struggle to navigate. Cross collaboration of professional services became difficult and in some cases non existent. Those “Sure Start” centres that did stay open only provide a limited range of services that sadly only those with funding are able to access. This is a very sad reality for many families, additionally as a consequence of this many of the pressure to support these families has fallen on early years and school settings, who do not have adequate resources to provide the specialised time and support needed. The absence of these centre continues to be felt by many including families and professionals alike. Something needs to change, our families and schools deserve better.