Reaching the Polish Community with SureStart and NCT Services
Staffordshire County Council's Children's Centres in Lichfield will be offering
a programme of NCT antenatal, breastfeeding and postnatal classes to Polish parents.
Thanks to a grant from the Department of Health, the reach of traditional National Childbirth Trust (NCT) courses can be extended to more diverse groups of parents. Part of the grant
will also go towards training NCT experts to work with interpreters and running more diverse courses.
The course, called Transition to Parenthood, is to begin mid June and will be offered to
Polish parents who are 30+ weeks pregnant. It will comprise two antenatal sessions, one
breastfeeding session and one postnatal session. After the babies are born, parents will be invited back for two further postnatal sessions to discuss their birth experiences and to meet local service providers and other new parents in the area.
Deputy Leader of Staffordshire County Council, and Lead Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Ian Parry said: "Our children's centres offer courses to a wide range of parents, and aim to be inclusive as possible. This new course for Polish parents is just one way we are
catering to an ever-expanding and diversifying community."
Lucy Smith, a local parent, NCT antenatal teacher and member of the Burton Hospital Trusts MSLC, is the coordinator of the new course. She will be using a specially designed Polish
antenatal pack which has been introduced to us by Lichfield District Midwife lead, Julie Baker.
Lucy says, "Lichfield is pleased to welcome this new service to better reach our growing Polish community. There is a growing need to help Polish parents and, with translation, our local NCT classes will perfectly fit the bill."
Translation services will be provided by the local Children's Centres, organised by Debbie Nash, the Centres' District Manager and Nicola Purkis, Community and Learning
Partnership Co-ordinator. The NCT course will be evaluated and reported on for further
improvements and outreach.
If you would like more information on the course (or how to run diverse NCT courses
in your area) please contact Lucy Smith at smiths@ladybird0.freeserve.co.uk, Debbie Nash at
debbie.nash@staffordshire.gov.uk or Nicola Purkis at nicola.purkis@staffordshire.gov.uk
