Neighbourhood Stories
Cawthorne Children's Centre
Cawthorne Children’s Centre is a Social Enterprise delivering full time care for children aged between 0 – 14 years old, at affordable rates for local people. The Centre began by providing pre-school only care to the small village. Over the years demand for high quality childcare from local residents and neighbouring villages had greatly increased. Driven by this demand Cawthorne Children’s Centre has expanded to providing full day care with out of school provision including breakfast, after school and holiday clubs.
The Centre has provided childcare in a number of settings since its establishment, including the Village Hall and the local Primary School. In 2003 the Key Fund supported Cawthorne Children’s Centre with a £30,000 Growth package and a £25,000 loan to replace their previously used Portakabins with a purpose made building. By 2008, however, this was proving too small due to the ever expanding interest and it was clear that rooms were working to near capacity meaning that more children could not offered places at the Centre.
Cawthorne Children’s Centre approached the Key Fund looking for additional support and were awarded a £25,000 loan to assist in the purchase and erection of an additional cabin including a stair lift for disabled access, toilet facilities and architect fees.
The loan from the Key Fund is helping to ensure that the Centre can continue to run their out of school service from an appropriate venue; with adequate facilities to meet the children’s needs, that 3 – 4 years olds will have increased opportunities for learning in small groups and that staff will benefit from a much needed recreation/ training room.
