Quality schemes involve parents most

The most successful Sure Start local programmes are those where parents have a say in the planning of new services, according to a study from the first national evaluation of the scheme, which examined the features of good-quality early learning, play and childcare. This could mean opening a nursery in an area that had no daycare for under-threes, as well as meeting the needs of individual parents by answering a mother's concerns about her child's routine at nursery.