Service Delivery

Please see the details of all the different services we offer across our different Children's Centres. Please see each individual Children's Centre for our 'What's On Guides' for days and times of each session.

18 Months Old ASQ

Is your child nearly 18 months old? We invite you and your family to our Stay, Play and Learn sessions at our Children’s centre’s.

Do you have any questions about how your child is doing?   Our team can offer you and your child an appropriate development check as well as help to answer any questions you might have about your child’s development. If you are interested or would to know more about the session, then please contact Martenscroft Children’s centre on 0161 226 1266 or Rusholme children’s centre 0161 510 0000 and ask to speak with a member of outreach team.

We are looking forward to meeting you and your child.

Ante Natal 

Ante natal sessions are delivered from Martenscroft and Rusholme Children’s Centre.
You will have a number of antenatal appointments during your pregnancy, and you will see a midwife at the children’s centre. They will check the health of you and your baby, give you useful information and
answer any questions. If you're pregnant with your first baby, you will have more appointments than those already with children.

Baby Massage

Baby Rhyme Time

Baby Rhyme time sessions are free drop in sessions for non-walking babies delivered at Martenscroft, and Moss Side Children’s Centres and other venues with
in our community. These sessions are based on sharing nursery rhymes, action songs and percussion music. It is fun, interactive and noisy! Nursery rhymes are great for language development, they have a lot of rhythm which catch baby's attention, and repetition, which is good for speech development.

Baby Sensory Play  

Baby Sensory Play are free drop in sessions delivered at Martenscroft, Rusholme and Moss Side Children’s Centres and other venues with in our community. These sessions are for non-walking babies, supporting families with a wealth of learning opportunities from visual stimulation, speech and language development, curiosity, imagination, hand-eye coordination, problem solving and exploratory play with your baby. Your baby loves nothing more than parent-baby interactions with you and social experiences like these sessions help develop your baby’s understanding of the world. Friendly, experienced staff are available throughout the session to support and offer advice around topics such as child development, potty training, and health and wellbeing. We look forward to welcoming you!

Baby Yoga

Baby yoga is delivered across our children’s centre. The session mixes physical touch, with emotional contact and relaxation for baby and caregiver. The wide range of movements and physical touch gently encourage baby to enjoy and explore their newfound skills as they start to progress and move in different ways. Baby yoga also helps to relieve tension, stimulates the brain, helps with balance and coordination,  promotes bonding and much more.

Book Worm Book Club

At Martenscroft Nursery School and Sure Start Children's Centres, we love books!

Come and join us in the Hall for our weekly book swap and story time. This session offers different ways you could be making your child’s reading journey fun, and encourages the love of reading from a young age. Children are able to bring a book from home to swap with another one. Following this Michelle or Sue (Early Years Outreach Workers) will host story time and rhymes. The children will receive their very own sticker chart and will be rewarded with a sticker every week that they attend. At the end of the half term, each child that attends will be awarded a Bookworms Book Club certificate! We look forward to welcoming you and having lots of fun together.

Sessions run every week, but alternate days, Tuesday 8:30am-9:00am then the week after Thursday 3:15pm-3:45pm. Please see Bookworms Book Club timetable or contact
Martenscroft 0161 226 1266 for more information.

Book Start - We are proud that all our children are gifted books appropiate to their language and developmental needs to support reading at home.

Rhyme Time Challenge - We are proud that the whole centre is invloved in the Rhyme Time Challenge where families and children learn and are able to recite rhymes in order to build a repertoire of familiar language and vocvabulary.

A Daily Habit before Bedtime!

Reading and singing with your child for 10 minutes every day makes a fantastic difference to your child's overall ability to be a confident reader.

Bump to Baby 

The Bump to baby programme is a free 4-week course for expectant parents who are 24+ weeks pregnant.  

What the course will cover.

• Bonding and Attachment (Helping your baby to  develop and feel safe and  secure)
• Preparation for your baby’s arrival and Home environment. (Discussions around Birth plans, labour, what equipment you need and home safety)
• Parenting and Confidence Skills (Discussions around feeding, bathing, and how to keep calm during stressful times)
• Health and Wellbeing (Looking   after yourself; immunisations for you and your baby, support available after baby is born)

For more information about the course or to be added to our waiting list please contact

Becky 07749431899 or Renesha 07749431896

City Play Together

Here at Martenscroft Nursery School and Children’s Centre we are offering fun, FREE, physical activity sessions for families and their children aged 2-5. Each session is delivered by Manchester City in the Community (CITC), supporting children to lead an active lifestyle from a young age. The sessions look to improve physical development of children, empowering family engagement in the process. It’s not just aimed at football skills, it covers a holistic approach to the development of young children, including communication, collaboration and critical thinking. Children look forward to these weekly sessions, building strong relationships with City’s youth workers and having fun with their families too.

Where: Moss Side Leisure Centre (M15 5NN)
When: Tuesday’s 11:30am-12:30pm

Sessions run every week during term time
(Following the Manchester School holiday calendar)

Family Support

We offer support to children and families across our neighbourhoods of Hulme, Moss side and Rusholme.

We have a dedicated outreach team who offer a wide range of support to families from pregnancy to children under 5 years old.

We use the Early Help Assessment which is an action plan tool, it helps parents and practitioners work together to identify things that are working well in life as well as areas that may be a struggle or a worry, this may include: housing issues, benefit information, Isolation, parenting, finding nursery/ school places and much more.

If you feel you would benefit from family support, please come along to our Family Support Drop in Session for a strength based conversation with our Outreach Team. These sessions run on a Tuesday afternoon at Martenscroft and Thursday afternoon at Rusholme. Please contact the Children's Centres for more information. 

Healthy Child Drop In Session

These weekly sessions are held at Martenscroft and Rusholme Children’s Centres. You can come along and get your baby weighed and speak with a Health Visitor about your baby’s health and development, immunisations and feeding.

Introduction to Solid Food Session

This monthly session is held at St Mary’s Bungalow, Moss Side and introduces your baby to solid foods, sometimes called complementary feeding or weaning. This should start when your baby is around 6 months old.

You can come along and speak with Health Visitors who will give you information and guidance on weaning.      

For more information please contact your Health Visitor.

Parenting Courses (CAPS)

The Incredible Years Preschool Parenting Programme run throughout the year at Martenscroft and Rusholme children’s centres.
The groups support parents and carers with the following:

• building their child’s language, academic, emotional and social skills to help them become ready for school
• supporting their child to develop independent behaviours and routines, such as mealtimes, bedtimes, getting dressed and following house rules managing behaviours such as tantrums, defiance and aggression. 

The programme runs over 14 weeks in school term time and the sessions are for 2 hours. We also provide a free crèche for any other preschool children you may have. We know that being a parent or carer is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. But we also know that it can be very difficult at times too, especially if there are other things going on in your life.

Please scan the barcode for access to CAPS Padlet:

Post Natal

Postnatal sessions are delivered from St Mary’s Bungalow, Moss Side. These appointments are arranged for When you are discharged from the hospital or following your home birth. Your community midwife will invite you to visit a postnatal clinic. The purpose of these community midwife appointments is to ensure the emotional and physical health and wellbeing of you and your baby, including support with feeding and caring for your baby. You will also have the opportunity to speak to an Early Years Outreach Worker, who can give you advice and information on registering the birth of your baby, registering with a GP, registering with your local children’s centre and parent and baby groups.

REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy)

REAL offers families’ opportunities to get involved in enjoyable activities with your child that support their early literacy development – with books, rhymes, signs and mark making (early writing). These activities support you in finding out more about your child’s early reading and writing development and how you can help them at
home.

Parents have said:
'I have really enjoyed the whole project. It has helped both me and my daughter. I have learned new ways to communicate and new activities.'
'I’ve enjoyed the ideas and I’ve seen a big difference in how much my son concentrates.'
'We have noticed how our son is more confident and talking a lot more to other adults.'

Stay Play and Learn

Stay Play and Learn are drop in sessions delivered at Martenscroft, Rusholme and Moss Side Children’s Centres and other venues with in our community. These sessions are for confident walking babies and children up to 5yrs, supporting families to explore, play and              
learn to have fun together. Stay Play and Learn will include free-independent play, messy
play, arts and crafts, followed by a healthy snack, story time and rhyme time. These
sessions will help your child by encouraging speech and language, encouraging sharing and
turn-taking and exploring new and exciting activities. Friendly, experienced staff are
available throughout the session to support and offer advice around topics such as child
development, potty training, and health and wellbeing. We look forward to welcoming you!

Terrific 2's Talk and Play

Terrific 2’s talk and play is a session which focuses on activities which will help your 2 year old to develop their language, communication and social skills whilst having lots of fun. The session also aims to build parental confidence in supporting speech and language development In the home by giving top tips for talking and activity ideas which can easily be done in the home or whilst out and about as a family.  These sessions are delivered weekly across our children’s centres.    

Tiny Tots and Toddler Time

Come along and join us for stories and singing popular rhymes. It develops language, listening and social skills while meeting other parents and carers. The sessions are delivered weekly at Hulme Library and The Power House Library. Story time sessions introduces children to the world of books and reading with fun, with interactive experiences in talking, singing, reading, and playing in a safe environment.

Tumble Time

WELLCOMM

 

         

            Members of the Children’s centre team are trained in Wellcomm.    

 

Wellcomm is a language screening tool which helps to identify any additional support your child may need in relation to speaking, listening and    understanding. Language screening sometimes highlights a need for a child to be referred to a Speech and Language therapist. The Speech and language therapist will be able to offer more specialist help and support for you and your child in order to give them the best possible start to learning.  If you would like to know more please speak to a member of the children’s centre team.