Axe Valley Children's Centre
Location
Centre Leader: Karen Bridel (Maternity Cover)
Axe Valley Children's Centre is located in Seaton and serves an area of 900 children in the surrounding villages and both market towns of Seaton and Axminster.
The centre gives local families somewhere to meet, play with their children and learn together. We provide opportunities for parents and carers to be creative with their children, including messy play and a wide range of activities.
Our main focus is on young children from 0 to age 5, but we also have programmes and activities to support older children and parents. In addition, the centre provides services and advice on health, welfare, housing and employment.
Please read our May Half Term Activities timetable.
Please read our new Summer Timetable to see what's happening at our centre.
Activities
- Stay and Play - This group provides a variety of play activities for you and your child to share
- Developmental Baby Massage - A bookable 5 week course for babies from birth to one year
- Bumps to Baby Buddies - A sociable group for expectant parents and babies up to one year old.
- Sing, Rhyme, Activity, Time - An interactive session for children to explore their voices and develop their speech and language skills through song and rhyme.
Staff
Our experienced staff members are trained to meet the needs of local families. They also possess a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. In addition, Axe Valley has a team of volunteers who support the centre's work with counselling, group work, and breastfeeding support and advice.
Volunteering
This legacy report has been produced to celebrate the impact of the Devon and Somerset Children's Centres’ Volunteering Scheme. Thanks to funding by the Department of Health, this project has changed the way The Children’s Society in Devon and Somerset has involved volunteers in its children’s centres. Although the funding has now ended, the children's centres will continue to use volunteers as we are very clear as to the benefits they bring to our work with children and their families.
Our centre's history and goals
- The Children's Society won the tender to manage Axe Valley children's centre in April 2012. Our current goals are to:
- Develop funding opportunities to develop centre services and resources
- Develop outreach services throughout our reach areas
- Continue to work with partner agencies to support families in the area
- Honiton and the greater East Devon area
- Make good use of the outdoors
- Support our families to learn whilst having fun
- To play an active part antenatally and in the first few weeks
Axe Valley and the greater East Devon area
Including the Axe Valley Children's Centre there are seven children's centres serving families in East Devon. They include two sites at Honiton run by the Honiton Children's Centre, two sites in Exmouth run by the Exmouth and District Children's Centre, (also part of The Children's Society) and there are other Children's Centres in Ottery St Mary, Sidmouth and Broadclyst.