Oxford,
27
March
2017
|
15:32
Europe/London

New Carterton family centre opens its doors

An innovative community-led scheme providing open access services for children and families has officially opened in Carterton.

Children’s centre staff, local councillors and members of the RAF have formed an interest group to run services previously provided by the town’s children’s centre.

They were joined by local families at the Town Hall to celebrate the launch of the new services on Monday (27 March). The scheme has received financial support from Oxfordshire County Council’s Transition Fund, Carterton Town Council, the Armed Forces Covenant and the RAF Benevolent Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Centre manager Jo Smith (back) with some visitors who attended the launch of the new family centre.

Carterton is among 34 locations across the county set to continue delivering open access children's services across Oxfordshire, with many children’s centre locations making a successful transition from council-funded to community-led services. The family centre will be putting on services from three venues - including the Town Hall - until a permanent home becomes available in January 2018.

The services on offer include:

• Universal services for families with babies and pre-school children

• One-to-one support for parents as required

• Summer holiday programme

• Ante-natal support alongside health professionals

Exciting project

Manager of the new centre Jo Smith said: “I am so pleased that people have worked together to make this happen for the families of Carterton. It is vital that, as a town, we retain universal services for all our families. This is a very exciting project to be involved with.”

Jenny Withers, RAF Community Development Advisor, added: “It is excellent news that funding has been secured to retain these crucial services in Carterton; the Carterton Family Centre provides vital support for both Service and civilian families alike, and it is extremely reassuring that this key provision will continue.”