Sure Start Services
The Sure Start programme supports young children and their families, living in disadvantaged areas in Northern Ireland. The programme provides support to parents from pregnancy until their child’s fourth birthday. With Sure Start's ongoing support, a child can flourish at home, at school and beyond.
How Sure Start can help
There are 38 Sure Start projects across Northern Ireland.
Sure Start projects have different programmes for parents and children under four years old.
A project can support a child's:
- learning skills
- health and well-being
- social and emotional development
Sure Start projects complement the work of local services and give young families advice on where to go and who to speak to, if they have specialised needs or problems.
Sure Start services
All Sure Start projects provide:
- home based and outreach support
- support to families including social support and parenting information, both group and home based
- healthcare and advice from local healthcare professionals, including, midwives and health visitors
- good quality play, learning and childcare experiences for children both at home and together with other children in group activities
- support for speech, language and communication
- support for all children in the community recognising their different needs
Some Sure Start projects may offer other services including:
- antenatal support and advice
- postnatal support, including breastfeeding
- classes for babies and young children such as baby massage, baby yoga and play sessions
- programmes for parents such as parenting courses, nutrition, nurturing, fathers groups and support for ethnic minority families
- support from midwives, health visitors and speech and language therapists
Each Sure Start project works with parents, statutory agencies and community-based organisations in the area, to design and provide services suitable for local people.
Finding Sure Start services
To find out which services are available in your area, contact the local Sure Start project:
Preparing children for pre-school
To help support children for their transition to pre-school, Sure Start projects run a developmental programme for two to three-year-olds.
To help support children for their transition to pre-school, Sure Start projects run a developmental programme for two to three-year-olds.
This developmental programme can:
- help children’s social and emotional development
- improve their communication and language skills
- encourage their imagination through play
After a parent applies for their child to be involved with the programme, a panel will look carefully at a range of information on each child and will decide which children would benefit most from participating in the programme.
Parental engagement is a key aspect of the programme because parents play a fundamental role in encouraging and helping children’s development, helping them to succeed at school and throughout life.
For get more information about Sure Start go to: