droyal79 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Currently to my knowledge these services are still available, but my understanding is that if the childcare element is removed from the facilities then the building will be handed back to the council and all other services will stop as the centre will become unsustainable. This is yet another reason that we need lots of support at the meeting on Tuesday to try and keep the centre open and ALL of the services running!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH34 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Currently to my knowledge these services are still available, but my understanding is that if the childcare element is removed from the facilities then the building will be handed back to the council and all other services will stop as the centre will become unsustainable. This is yet another reason that we need lots of support at the meeting on Tuesday to try and keep the centre open and ALL of the services running!! Sheffield City Council achieved baby friendly accreditation (Unicef, breastfeeding) in 2012 and this includes the childrens centres, so I was wondering how many centres that have any kind or drop in or breastfeeding support group will be closing and if its a lot how can they justify this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosyRat Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Sheffield City Council achieved baby friendly accreditation (Unicef, breastfeeding) in 2012 and this includes the childrens centres, so I was wondering how many centres that have any kind or drop in or breastfeeding support group will be closing and if its a lot how can they justify this? The Council can't justify closing any service. Neither are they doing so. The last thing they want is for the Children's Centres, libraries, sports centres and any other public service to close. The plain facts are that the government has decided not to continue with the SureStart service and to withhold Early Years money from councils who wish to continue it. At the same time Sheffield's budget has been cut by £57 million this year, £30 million next year & £30 million the year after. So they can't transfer money from other budgets to keep the centres open, as those budget areas are also being cut. 401 Sure Start Centres have closed since 2010 and hundreds more have been hollowed out. Sure Start funding has been cut by £286m and hundreds of millions more have been taken out of the budget. You're right to protest - this is a valuable service & shouldn't be lost. Just make sure you protest in the right direction. A petition to the Council who want to keep the service is going will do no good whatsoever. Direct your concerns at the people making the cuts. In this instance Michael Gove, who has re-allocated the SureStart budget to fund his adoption programme : http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2013/jan/24/sure-start-cuts-pay-for-ove-adoption-crusade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandarella Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 After attending a parents meeting yesterday at Woodthorpe Sure Start, we are putting a proposal together to stop the centre from closing as decided in the council's proposals. We are doing everything we can to stop this from happening, there will be another meeting next Tuesday 12th March at 6pm and would like as many people as possible to attend. Whether you have children attending, planning to attend, live in the area or would just like to come and support us, it would really be appreciated. If you wish to contact me for further details, please feel free to message me. Thank you for your support Amanda Royal Can I ask that although people are welcome to attend if they will be directly affected by the possible closure, the child care places are limited on the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw_007 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 How did the meeting go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droyal79 Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Meeting went ok. The councillers said they will come back to us with proposals of how to keep the centre open if possible by the middle/end of next week. They have said they are looking at different government "pots of money" that they may be able to access to help out, but all we need to stay open for a year is £30,000. If we can obtain a grant for that amount it will allow us to fundraise or find other cashflows during the coming year to allow the centre to be self sustaining. We are looking for any avenues we can go down to find the £30k, so if anyone has any suggestions on where to look that we may not have already thought of, please feel free to post them here and we can look into them. Thanks. ---------- Post added 15-03-2013 at 11:05 ---------- So, anyone any ideas on how to raise £30k funding in a month? ---------- Post added 24-03-2013 at 18:47 ---------- Just to let everyone know, the centre is now staying open. Funding has been found and all services will be continuing to run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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