Brent Council urged to re-instate childminder sessions and bring Children's Centres back in-house

Brent Council out-sourced 14 Brent children's centres to the charity Barnardo's. Now childminders are petitioning the council to demand that Barnardo's re-instate childminder sessions at Harmony Children's Centre and go further in demanding that to avoid the risk of cuts in more vital services Children's Centres are brought back in house.

This is their petition that can be found on the Brent Council website HERE. I urge you to sign.

We the undersigned petition the council to Demand that childminder sessions are protected and not cancelled or moved by Barnardos. Demand that the childminder session at Harmony Children’s Centre is re-instated immediately. Bring back children’s centres in house.

Barnardos charity were awarded the contract to run 14 Children’s Centres in Brent. In January they cancelled the childminder session at Harmony Children’s Centre which was accessed by local childminders and the children in their care. They moved the session to St Raphaels Children Centre which is across the North Circular Road from Harmony, too busy a road for a childminder to cross with very small children.

In their response to our concerns it seems as though Barnardos wish to cancel all child minder sessions from their Prime Time slots which would be useless to childminders as the morning is the only times they can go out of the house with their children due to naps and school pick ups.

The childminder sessions are well attended, run by the childminders themselves, provide excellent learning opportunities for the children, provide socialisation for the children and give the childminders the chance to meet and share best practice.

As a result, Barnardos are not fulfilling their own vision of “believe in children” as they cut these vital services for local children. Therefore, we demand that Children’s Centres are brought back in house, otherwise there is a risk more vital services will be cut by Barnardos.

Private bidder to take over Treetops Nursery

The Save Treetops Nursery Facebook page is reporting that Brent Council has officially  accepted a private bid to run the nursery.  The nursery was designated for closure along with the Harmony nursery but parents swiftly organised a public campaign to keep it open.

An on-line petition to save both Treetops and Harmony gained 235 signatures.

 When the Council were adamant that they were not willing to fund the nursery the parents successfully campaigned for additional time to put a bid together themselves but encountered difficulty in raising the necessary funding

The takeover by a private company obviously raises the issue of affordability of fees as well as how the parents, who have been so involved and committed, will be represented in the new set up.

Meanwhile on Saturday Cllr Ann John leader of Brent Council will be at Harmony Children's Centre, where the Council closed the nursery, to present certificates to parents who have taken part in the 12 week, Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) course.

I leave it to readers to decide whether Ann John herself would deserve an award for her work in strengthening families and strengthening communities.

Now Brent nurseries face closure

The Council is currently consulting on closing Treetops Children's Centre nursery in Doyle Gardens, Willesden and Harmony Children's Centre nursery in Bridge Road, Neasden. In addition they propose to restructure the recently built and state of the art Willow Children's Centre in Chalkhill to make it mainly a nursery for children with special needs and disabilities.The closures would take place in March 2012.

Councillor Mary Arnold, Brent's lead member for children and families, told the Brent and Kilburn Times that this was a 'genuine consultation..we have to consider making difficult decisions and ways to prioritise funds for vulnerable children'. However the consultation paper (see below) seems to indicate that there are no viable alternatives to the proposals.

The definition of 'vulnerable' appears to be changing as the council faces cutting more and more services. Early intervention would indicate provision for economically deprived, ethic minority and refugee children. The proposals narrow this down to children with special educational needs and disability. Of course they need to be catered but so do other children in our deprived areas. Making the Willows mainly for such children raises issues about integration of such  children into mainstream provision. (click on image to enlarge)

The full Council briefing for parents and carers is available HERE
The consultation is at www.brent.gov.uk/consultations
A Save Treetops and Harmony Nurseries Facebook page is HERE

Parents have set up a petition HERE