Behind the Inspection Rating: Centre builds families' confidence

Cumbria might invoke visions of grand rural landscapes, but the area of Carlisle served by Newtown Children’s Centre is not short on indicators of deprivation. Most children live in homes where no adult works and there are high levels of domestic violence and mental ill health. There is also the stark reality that, on average, people in Newtown’s catchment area die 12 years earlier than those in Carlisle’s richest wards.

Yet in its recent Ofsted inspection, the centre won praise for its success at raising aspirations. As one parent told the inspectorate: “Who would have thought I would be going to university?”

Nicky Robley, children’s services manager at Newtown, says raising aspiration is a gradual process: “It’s about building relationships with families and trust within a community – it’s a journey.” So while Newtown runs courses to boost parents’ self-esteem and confidence – and in doing so their aspirations for their children – that is rarely the starting point.

“We learned that rather than getting parents to come straight into a parenting course, they have to feel positive about themselves and what changes they can make first,” Robley says. So the journey often begins with “low-key, fun activities” such as the free Zumba keep-fit classes run by the centre.

“It came out of the holiday activities we did last year to engage with more families,” says Robley. “Childhood obesity is an issue in our area, so to encourage parents and children to engage in physical activity together we tried offering Zumba since the families we are working with wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for Zumba classes.

“It was the most popular activity we ran so we invested in training a member of staff so she could offer the exercise to adults and now parents and children together.”

Another popular activity is the Dads and Families Together Saturday swimming sessions held at the pool of the local academy school. The sessions give dads a chance to have fun with their children although, at the request of the fathers, it is not a dads-only event.

Before April 2011 the centre had no building and operated as a virtual centre reliant on outreach work and partnerships with local community centres and church halls.

While it now has a proper home, work beyond its walls remains an important feature of Newtown’s activities. “We’re serving three different wards and our service users are not within pram-pushing distance, so we take our services into the community,” says Robley.

Another key partnership for Newtown is the three other children’s centres in Carlisle, which are all run by Barnardo’s and allow the centres to employ “cluster workers” who work across the different centres providing services such as family support and help for children with disabilities.

But while Newtown has secured an outstanding grade from Ofsted, Robley says a lot of the credit goes to Cumbria County Council’s decision not to cut children’s centre funding. “Cumbria has remained committed to children’s centres and I think the value of that is demonstrated by the good Ofsted reports children’s centres have had throughout the county.”


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