Reviving Sure Start and investing in children is vital for society
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Version 0 of 1. Letters: Jane Lane laments the loss of opportunities that Sure Start provided for social cohesion and Stephen Burke moots the creation of centres for all ages. Plus, June O’Sullivan says ‘free’ childcare is anything but Frances Ryan is right to draw attention to the fact that recent governments have broken down the unique opportunity of the Sure Start projects, set up under the Blair/Brown governments, to pioneer policies and practices that brought significant benefits to children (Reviving Sure Start highlights austerity’s trail of destruction, Journal, 11 November). Not only did they blaze a trail, as Ryan so brilliantly describes, but they also opened up the possibility of providing opportunities for early years practitioners to counter children’s learning of negative attitudes and behaviour towards people who are different from them – including those of different gender, skin colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion. Recent evidence shows that discrimination, prejudice, abuse and hatred are increasing in our society. Research evidence over decades also shows that children learn their attitudes to differences between people long before they go to school. So the work that was beginning to be done was critically important for our future society to have a chance of being more at ease with itself. It is shameful that something so crucial as Sure Start should be so readily discarded. Labour intends to open a Sure Start project in every community. We must hope that any future government takes Sure Start out of the political arena and places it as fundamental to our society.Jane LaneReading, Berkshire • Reversing the closure and hollowing out of children’s centres is the right thing to do. It’s crucial to invest in the future of the next generations. But we could go further and make better use of the community buildings that are now closed or ghost ships. They could become “centres for all ages”, where young and old can mix and share activities – tackling loneliness and ageism, and improving care, health and learning for every generation.Stephen BurkeDirector, United for All Ages • As someone who runs 39 social enterprise nurseries across London and subsidises 35% of the places for children who can least afford them, I welcome the promise by the Lib Dems to provide 35 hours of free childcare (Report, 9 November), and Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to expand free childcare to all two- to four-year-olds (Report, 12 November). But the big question is when will politicians drop the “free” tag, as quality childcare is not free. Insufficient funding has been problematic for ever and this is no surprise because there is cross-party agreement that it needs to be reviewed. The consequences of a stubborn refusal to fund childcare are nurseries closing, childminder numbers declining, staff leaving the sector and quality reducing. Is this what MPs mean by investment in children and families? Evidence shows that a quality early years education gives every child the best start in life. If ministers can’t get the basics right, how do our children stand a chance?June O’SullivanCEO, London Early Years Foundation • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition |