Ventnor Children’s Centre, will today, celebrate the launch of a pilot scheme aimed at improving services for the under 7’s on the Isle of Wight.

Following a successful joint bid by Isle of Wight Council, the Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust and members of the Voluntary and Community Sector.  The Island is one of only ten areas in the country where the scheme which will run for the next three years will be tested.

Isle of Wight Council’s Director of Children’s Services Steve Beynon said

This is very exciting news for the Isle of Wight. There are enormous potential benefits to be gained from closer liaison between early years providers, schools and related services.

We should take great pride in the fact the government has such confidence that the Isle of Wight will deliver the partnership pilot.

It’s envisaged the project will create a more coherent and stable experience of early year’s education for children and their families as they move between different phases and services.

Part of this will be exploring how all the services can best share their expertise and skills across the sectors through joint training and development.

Over the next three years, the scheme will assess how standards have improved, in particular helping children through the early years sector and improving outcomes for young people at the age of 5 to 7.

Alan Wells, Isle of Wight Council Cabinet member for Children and Young People said

I send my congratulations to the council team and its partners who put to the DCSF such a convincing case for our area to be one to run the pilot project.

This scheme can only benefit young children and their families. This project will become a key part in the council’s exciting vision for improving educational services and standards at all levels.

The government’s Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF) 0 - 7 Partnerships scheme aims to enhance partnership working amongst a variety of children’s services such as schools, early years providers, children’s centres and health services.