Sure Start
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, originating with HM Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
, with the aim of "giving children the best possible start in life" through improvement of childcare
Childcare
Child care means caring for and supervising child/children usually from 0–13 years of age. In the United States child care is increasingly referred to as early childhood education due to the understanding of the impact of early experiences of the developing child...
, early education, health and family support, with an emphasis on outreach and community development. The programme was originally intended to support families from pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
until children were four years old but the brand was extended to cover an undefined responsibility up to age fourteen, or sixteen for those with disabilities.
Overview
Launched in 1998, Sure Start had similarities to the Head Start programme in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and is also comparable to Australia Head Start and Ontario's Early Years Plan.
Related to the Government's goal of reducing child poverty
Child poverty
Child poverty refers to the phenomenon of children living in poverty. This applies to children that come from poor families or orphans being raised with limited, or in some cases absent, state resources. Children that fail to meet the minimum acceptable standard of life for the nation where that...
, the initial districts for Sure Start development were selected "according to the levels of deprivation within their areas" the focus being particularly on disadvantaged areas but open to all families living in the catchment area. Such catchment areas were selected locally by the projects.
Sure Start is overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education...
and the Department for Work and Pensions
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
. The programme has been described by Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
as "one of New Labour's greatest achievements".
Each project was allowed to develop in its own way depending on the expressed wishes of parents and the guidance of the various organisations heading up each one. Policy on such matters as choosing volunteers and even the services offered were a local level decision.
Sure Start local programmes were opened in waves, Round 1 indicates the first wave of programmes starting 1999. Round 6 represents the final wave of Sure Start local programmes mostly starting in 2003.
The National Evaluation of the programme is ongoing. The latest evaluation, at age three years, showed positive, if modest, effects for all categories of families.
Every Child Matters proposed a switch from Sure Start local programmes to Sure Start Children’s Centres, which would be controlled by local authorities, and would be provided not just in the most disadvantaged areas. The government’s current target is to have 3,500 children’s centres in place by 2010. Of the 524 original Sure Start local programmes, most are now Sure Start Children's Centres.
Some Sure Start Local Programmes have become registered Charities and Companies Limited by guarantee. Sure Start Hounslow, a programme in West London, became a company limited by guarantee in 2004 and now delivers a range of services, many through Service Level Agreement with the local authority, not all of which focus entirely on children under five. This development has been one of many routes that Sure Start Local Programmes have taken to ensure sustainability during the "tapering" of the original Sure Start Grant.
In 2005, Norman Glass, one of the original architects of Sure Start wrote an article praising the increased government focus on the early years, but criticising cuts in funding per head; the change from child development to childcare and getting mothers into work; and the shift back to local authority control, rather than being run by boards including parents.
Children's Centres are expected to provide:
- In centres in the 30% most disadvantaged areas: integrated early learning and childcare (early years provision) for a minimum of 10 hours a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year; and support for a childminder network
- In centres in the 70% least disadvantaged areas, which do not elect to offer early years provision: drop-in activity sessions for children, such as stay and play sessions
- Family Support, including support and advice on parenting, information about services available in the area and access to specialist, targeted services; and Parental Outreach
- Child and Family Health Services, such as antenatal and postnatal support, information and guidance on breastfeeding, health and nutrition, smoking cessation support, and speech and language therapy and other specialist support
- Links with Jobcentre PlusJobcentre PlusJobcentre Plus was a government agency for working-age people in Great Britain. The agency was formed when the Employment Service, which operated Jobcentres, merged with the Benefits Agency, which ran social security offices, and was re-named Jobcentre Plus on 1 April 2002...
to encourage and support parents and carers who wish to consider training and employment - Quick and easy access to wider services
Evidence of effectiveness
A 2007 study by researchers from the Universities of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
published in the British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
looking at parenting interventions within the Sure Start system in Wales examined 153 parents from socially deprived areas and showed that a course teaching improved parenting skills had great benefits in reducing problem behaviour in young children. Parents were taught to:
- Increase positive child behaviour through praise and incentives
- Improve parent-child interaction: relationship building
- Set clear expectations: limit setting and non-aversive management strategies for non-compliance
- Apply consistent gentle consequences for problem behaviour
The study recommended that this evidence based class, be expanded from Wales to the rest of the UK, making it available for all parents who need it, stating that the Sure Start program has not yet produced results as good as these in England.
This lack of effectiveness in England is backed up by a University of Durham study which suggested that sure start was ineffective at improving results in early schooling.
Although early evaluations did not find Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLP) to have been particularly effective, more recent research from the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) concludes "For the time being, it remains plausible, even if by no means certain, that the differences in findings across the first and second phases of the NESS Impact Study reflect actual changes in the impact of SSLPs resulting from the increasing quality of service provision, greater attention to the hard to reach and the move to Children’s Centres, as well as the greater exposure to the programme of children and families in the latest phase of the impact evaluation."
Government cuts to Sure Start
Cuts in funding from central government to local authorities in England has led to fears that up to 250 Sure Start centres will close in 2011. Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Michael Gove has admitted that funding for Sure Start has not been protected, though Children's minister Sarah TeatherSarah Teather
Sarah Louise Teather is a British Liberal Democrat politician, Member of Parliament for Brent Central, Minister of State at the Department for Education, and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay....
said there was enough money available to maintain existing children's centres. A number of local councils have announced cuts to their Sure Start budgets, and ministers have said they want to refocus the scheme to help the most disadvantaged families.
Parents and mothers' groups have protested against these cuts, and have taken their campaign directly to Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
.
External links
- Sure Start Children's Centres Department for Children, Schools and Families
- Every Child Matters Department for Children, Schools and Families
- SureStart Hounslow
- Children Centre Strood
- Comparison of National Programmes for Children 0-5 and their Families Hong Kong Council of Social Service Service Development
- Shaky times for Sure Start The Guardian, 13 September 2005