Children's Centres

Finding a Children's Centre - For a list of all the Sure Start and Children's Centres.

There are 40 Sure Start Children's Centres across Manchester. Sure Start Children's Centres are reshaping early years and family services all over the city, building on existing services, so that more young children and their parents can access high quality integrated services at neighbourhood level. Centres offer childcare (provided by the local authority, the private and voluntary sector), family support and a range of health, training and employment services depending on local need.

Manchester's Sure Start Children's Centres offer a wide range of services to families in the local community. Many of the sites are former Manchester City Council Early Years Children's Centres, or have very close links with existing Early Years sites.

What is Sure Start?

Sure Start is the Government's programme to support children and families by delivering the best start in life for every child and to help parents balance their work and family commitments. Sure Start activities don't just happen in the centre, they take place all over the community in libraries, health centres, play centres and community centres to reach as many families as possible.

Download the Sure Start leaflet to learn more about Sure Start.

For more information

Contact Manchester Family Information Service (FIS) on free phone 0800 083 7921, email fisinfo@manchester.gov.uk or visit the Children's Services Directory.

The Childcare Act

In April 2006 the Childcare Act placed important new duties on local authorities in relation to the provision of childcare. You can read more about these duties at the Every Child Matters website (external site)

Research on how best to promote Sure Start to Manchester families