Help shape early years service

The council is currently restructuring its early years service, bringing together the specialist early years service, the early years advisory team and childcare strategy team into one integrated team.

This new integrated service will focus on support for pre-school children, such as early years education, childcare and help for those who have additional needs.

Two online workshops have been organised for people to get involved.

The first, on September 16 from 10am to 1pm, is for parents, carers and stakeholders to have their say on the type of support they would like the new integrated early years service to deliver.

For those unable to attend the event, an online survey has also been developed to capture residents’ views. This can be found at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DudleyEY and is open until September 17.

At the second workshop, on September 29 from 10am to 1pm, there will be feedback on different options developed from people’s input into the first workshop.

Both workshops will be led by the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), which has worked with other local authorities in developing Early Years structures and approaches.

Councillor Ruth Buttery, cabinet member for children and young people, said:

It’s so important that parents and carers have access to the right services to support them from the very beginning.

By restructuring and bringing together three existing services into one integrated team we aim to make it easier for families to find the support and help they need.

We’ve been listening to parents and carers over the past two years as they have helped us shape the service and this is another opportunity to get involved.

I would encourage anyone who wants to help shape our future early years service to sign up for the workshop or take part in the survey.”

To book a place on the workshops visit https://dudleyearlyyears.eventbrite.co.uk/