A multi-million pound project to build a community and health centre for parents and disadvantaged children in east Oxford was launched today.

Sure Start is to build the £3m centre featuring a community cafe, a health clinic, computer training rooms and a training kitchen next to Rose Hill Family Centre at Rose First School in Oxford.

The centre is part of a new government scheme designed to promote the health and well-being of pre-school children to make sure they thrive at school.

Director of Oxford Sure Start, Tan Lea, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to develop services locally that will really make a difference to children and their families to give children the best start in life." Oxford's Sure Start scheme follows the Peers Early Education project, based at Peers School, Littlemore, which covers the Littlemore and Rose Hill area.

It currently works with Asian families, giving support for parents as children's first educators, providing transport to help families access services unavailable locally and operating a toy and child safety equipment lending library.

The new Rose Hill centre will house a creche, a training kitchen to provide nutritional advice to parents, a computer training room and clinics run by health visitors and mid- wives.

Story date: Monday 15 November

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