Early Years

Early years, childcare and extended services

What we do

Our aim is to provide the best start in life for every child across the borough by providing quality services and support to children, young people and their families.

We develop childcare, early education and extended services across the borough. Through our work with all of the borough's childcare providers and schools we aim to ensure all children living in the area get the best opportunities.

We aim to deliver services in line with the national Every Child Matters framework which is a national approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to 19.

The framework aims to ensure that every child, whatever their background or circumstances, has the support they need to:

be healthy
stay safe
enjoy and achieve
make a positive contribution
achieve economic well-being

Please browse the menu to find out more about how we can help you, whether you are a parent or carer, a provider, or interested in a career in childcare.

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

We have completed an audit of the childcare available in the borough. This audit is known as the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment and the report can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Assessments form part of the new statutory duties and responsibilities of local authorities in relation to the Childcare Act 2006.

All local authorities have a duty to assess the sufficiency of childcare, and are required to take steps to analyse demand, map supply, and map supply to demand in order to secure sufficiency of childcare.

Jigsaw readers survey

We would like to hear your views of the early years newsletter Jigsaw to help us continue to make it an informative and useful read.

Please take a few moments to complete the online survey.

You can also browse previous copies of Jigsaw.