This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 22 November 2016. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
by Katy ThompsonAS children's centres across the UK close under Government cutbacks, the Door looks at how churches can help ensure families aren't left without important resources. Over the next year Oxfordshire County Council is significantly reducing its children's centre provision from 44 to 18 centres as well as changing its delivery to focus almost entirely on statutory services provision.
This means that the familiar offering of open access sessions such as stay and play, drop in activities and youth group activities will no longer be funded by Oxfordshire County Council.
These cuts give our churches an incredible opportunity and a God-given duty to provide desperately needed support to local families and to put churches at the heart of their community life; showcasing the Church at its best: responding in proactive and relevant ways. The council, under the banner of Oxfordshire Together, is looking for creative ways to support families in the future including in partnership with churches and other community organisations.
The Diocese of Oxford, together with the Doorsteps network, is part of these county wide conversations and is actively seeking to facilitate work by churches and their partners.
Together, we are asking local churches, of all denominations, to work cooperatively to support families. This might include taking on a local centre and providing relevant and desired universal services for families with children under five in the local area, or it might include looking at how activities could be extended to support families with older children.
There are resources available for these kinds of initiatives.
Oxfordshire County Council has created a £1m pump-priming fund to assist community groups to develop proposals for local children and family support that will not receive longer term funding from the council. We are proposing four steps for you to consider:Is your church interested in looking at options to support local families and do you want to work with others to achieve this? Can you put this on the agenda of your next church leaders' meeting - discuss options for your children's centre and how you can work together to respond? Can you talk with others who you think will be interested - e. g.
churches and Christian community groups you know who do things for families with under fives.
Can you talk to other organisations and groups such as the town or parish council, school; or perhaps there is an existing community group looking at children's centre provision you could get involved with?Bring your children's workers and leadership team as well as church members to a Doorsteps conference on Saturday 5 November in Oxford - this conference will inform, inspire and equip churches to respond to these challenges. Upload information about your existing week-day activities for families with children under five on the County Council Family Information Service here.
Support available:Katy from Doorsteps can support you in the first steps of identifying and bringing together relevant groups to discuss potential proposals as well as advice on mapping community needs.
Gwen Davies from the Diocese will be working with a small number of the priority areas to help local churches contribute to community partnerships looking at children and family services.
She can also advise other projects as they develop and signpost them to the best sources of help and support. Gwen will also work directly with the County Council, Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA), Doorsteps, Oxford Community Foundation (OCF) and other agencies to ensure that the help and advice being provided is consistent and widely accessible across the county.
Email: gwen. davies@oxford. anglican. org OCVA is providing intensive support in 16 priority areas to help projects develop models and proposals.
They provide specific expertise on governance, policy development, organizational models and working with volunteers.
OCVA can also help by sharing best practice, help with developing the partnership, advising on researching needs as well as help with funding applications. Email angela. cristofoli@ocva. org. ukA Children's Centre Oxfordshire Yammer Group has also been set up to help people working for children and family projects and organisations share what they are doing, provide peer-to-peer support and explore best practice.
For the uninitiated, Yammer is a web-based tool that enables groups to connect and share good practice.
To join this group email gillian. warson@ocva. org. uk. Please contact Gwen at the Diocese or Katy at Doorsteps if you want to get involved, find out more information or learn who else in your area is already interested - k. thompson@viva. org and 07708 184012 and gwen. davies@oxford. anglican. orgDoorsteps is a network of local churches in Oxfordshire inspiring and equipping churches to work together to effectively reach vulnerable children and families across the county.
'Doorsteps' was birthed by and is supported by Viva - an Oxford-based charity which brings positive change to more than 1. 2 million children worldwide through 37 partner networks of churches in 50 cities.
Teaming up in Tilehurst
IN Reading churches are working together with the local authority to ensure high quality provision for children and young people. And while the Revd Adam Carlill says the situation in the Berkshire town is better than in other places, child-related projects are increasing the number of people with little or no experience of Christianity, who walk through the doors of churches.A picture from St George's Toddlers.
Adam Carlill Adam, the Vicar of the Benefice of Tilehurst St George and Mary Magdalen , explained that Reading Borough Council had reorganised the management of children's centres into clusters to save management costs. "In my patch we have the West Reading Cluster which comprises Norcot Early Years Centre, Ranikhet and Oxford Road.
St George's and St Mary Magdalen's have a close and warm relationship with Ranikhet and Norcot," he said.
"St George's run a toddlers' group in the nave on most term-time Tuesdays under the auspices of Ranikhet, and St Mary Magdalen's is starting a similar venture that was voted for unanimously by the congregation earlier this summer. I am particularly pleased about this latter venture, because the staff at the West Reading Cluster are so excited by the venue that they are pulling one member of staff from a group at Norcot to be in attendance every week at St Mary Magdalen instead. "The St George's Toddlers ' group saw an average weekly footfall of 70 in the year to February 2016.
Adam said: "Both projects have significantly increased the churches' contact with non-church people of multi-faith backgrounds, and with young people.
At St George's Toddlers they have contributed hugely to the life of the church, through Christmas Fayres, Summer Fayres, summer outings, the development of the garden and churchyard, as well as an increase in baptism and confirmation candidates, and attendance at special services such as our Valentine's Day service earlier this year. " ;