Stromboli Awarded National SureStart Month Contract for the Second Year

Following the success of National SureStart Month 2003, Stromboli have been awared the contract to provide an online database of events for National SureStart Month in June 2004 by the National Day Nurseries Association. The database will be integrated with Stromboli's Volcano Community and Content Management System.

About National SureStart Month
A record half a million parents learnt more about the childcare opportunities available to them during National SureStart Month in June. Over four thousand events took place across the UK to enable parents and families to find out about the hundreds of support services available on their doorsteps from early education, to childcare, health and family support.

Family activities ranged from teddy bear picnics to fun days, beach parties, Caribbean parties, art exhibitions, sponsored sunflower plantings, story telling in libraries, sheep sheering to concerts. Participants in the month ordered a staggering one and a half million promotional items including balloons and stickers to support their activities and further interest in the month was shown by over thirty six thousand people who visited the month’s web site www.nationalsurestartmonth.com.

SureStart month also had an unprecedented level of support from MPs across the country with one hundred MPs expressing their interest and many visiting an activity in their constituency.

Hazel Blears, Minister of State at the Home Office and Catherine Ashton, SureStart Minister showed their support by taking part in the month’s exciting launch at London Zoo. The Ministers joined two hundred guests including many children, representatives from children’s charities and the childcare industry, at the launch which took the form of a Teddy Bears’ Picnic.

Sponsored by SureStart, a new government unit in the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Work and Pensions, National Sure Start Month was organised by Kids’ Clubs Network in conjunction with the leading childcare charities including the Daycare Trust, National Childminding Association, National Day Nurseries Association and Pre-school Learning Alliance.