Harrow plans to roll out children's centre guide

Harrow Council's Integrated Early Years and Community Services has created a self-evaluation tool for local authorities, which attempts to answer the question, What is a Good Children's Centre?

The tool outlines 29 areas of service delivery that children's centre leaders and managers can measure their own performances against. These include multi-agency work, developing a learning community, and partnerships with parents and carers. The publication will give examples of what constitutes satisfactory, good and excellent practice.

Wendy Beeton, manager of Harrow's Integrated Early Years and Community Services, who has overseen the development of the guidance, said: "There has been a lot of focus on getting children's centres up and running and we felt the whole issue of quality needed to be kept on the agenda."

Harrow has already had interest in the product from neighbouring authorities such as Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London. It will be officially launched on 11 May, with plans to pilot one-day courses on using the guidance for authorities interested in taking part.

In the past, Harrow Council has been highly commended by Together for Children, which advises the government on the development of children's centres.