University Family Centre rated ‘outstanding’

56 children of University staff and students now attend the centre, ranging in age from six months to five years.

Ofsted regulate and inspect to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. The Centre achieved Ofsted’s highest possible result of ‘outstanding’ in all areas of provision.

The Family Centre promises to provide a setting where ‘care and education go hand in hand’. The inspection report backs up this slogan and recognises the ‘high standards in promoting children’s welfare learning and development’.

Val Phillips has been Manager of the Family Centre since it opened nearly 37 years ago. She said: “The Family Centre team has a wealth of experience and there is no substitute for that. Everything we do is governed by the needs of the children we care for and their parents: they are at the very heart of all we do. If they come to accept us as a part of their extended family then we know we are succeeding. It is a great joy and a great responsibility.

“Over the years we have seen trends in childcare come and go but the desire to provide the very best in care and education has never changed, it’s what makes the Family Centre what it is and why places are in such demand.”