The council runs 12 early years centres and has been involved in integrating care and education for children from birth to five years since 1990. Islington councillor James Kempton highlighted the importance of seeing children in the context of their families. He said, 'It is crucial to build a relationship through early years services, because this is a gateway to other services which affect families.'
Margaret McMillan Nursery School was the first school to be awarded beacon status for the quality of its care and education. It offers 12 integrated places for children with moderate learning difficulties. The school plans to widen its outreach work to more than 1,000 children in the area.
Services include drop-in centres for parents, support services for teenage parents and a health centre.
Archway Early Years Centre is developing Sure Start services and has increased the number of places available for under-threes, offering 42 more combined care and education places at neighbouring Hargrave Primary School.
It has 76 children at the centre, but aims to offer services to 800 children. Archway and Hargrave have received 1.2m in Government funding to accommodate the increase.
Islington council now plans to build a campus combining Fortune Park Children's Centre, Richard Cloudsley Special School and Prior Weston Primary School to extend services for primary school-age children.
