Venue details
Address (not for correspondence):
Withington Methodist Church, 439 Wilmslow Road,
Withington, Greater Manchester, M20 4AN
Opening hours
Days & Times: Saturdays fortnightly 10am to 12pm
Centre charges
No charge for service
Services available here
Supported contact
Handover
Accepts self referrals
Accredited
This centre is accredited to provide supported contact
Accreditation is a way of checking that your contact centre is safe and meets our standards.
How is a centre checked?
An assessorSomeone working on our behalf who has experience and an interest in child contact services and must assess if a service meets our standards. looks round the rooms, toys, equipment, and any outside play areas to make sure that they are safe and good for you to use. They talk with the people at the centre to make sure that they are trained and helped to do their job as well as possible. They then check the informationThe assessor checks through the centre’s accreditation portfolio which includes policies, procedures, risk assessments, reports (if the service offers supervised contact) and information for families. on what happens at the centre and how it keeps you safe.
When the assessor is happy that a centre meets our standards then they are awarded their accreditation and you can find them on this website. Accreditation happens every three years with extra checks if needed.
Accreditation Summary
Date: 01/07/2022
Summary:
Withington Child Contact Centre has been providing supported contact since 1992. It is based in the main hall of Withington Methodist Church and although a project of the church it is very welcoming to families from all faiths and cultures. The church is in the centre of Withington with easy bus access just off the main road from Manchester City Centre and has a small rear car park.
The centre uses the main first floor hall of the Methodist Church with reception on the ground floor. The main contact room is large with families well-spaced out and volunteers able to sit near the main entrance and rear exit and observe unobtrusively. A separate room is available for older children to play video games etc, there is also a quiet room and a café in the main contact hall. Toilets can be found on each floor clearly displayed including some with disabled access (building has lift) and changing facilities.
There is good information on the website regarding how parents or other agencies can refer. At the time of the report the centre was mainly receiving self-referrals. There is a good system of pre referral and pre visit information, and on the day of contact the centre was well staffed with each volunteers having a clear role such as door duty (downstairs), café, rear door and welcoming each family. The co-ordinator has a very approachable but structured manner in greeting families, dealing with issues such as lateness etc. On the day of the visit the staggered arrival and departure rules operated smoothly with non-resident parents helping to tidy up the contact room while they waited to leave.
The co-ordinator is very experienced and committed devoting a large amount of time to the centre on a voluntary basis. The volunteer team are also very committed however at the time of the report they were struggling with the loss of some experienced team leaders following the Covid pandemic.
Withington Child Contact Centre has a very welcoming approach to families from all cultures and backgrounds who all seemed relaxed during the assessor’s visit. Volunteers seem well supported and have detailed information to carry out their role. The centre’s website is clear, displaying all policies written in simple terms making them very accessible. The service had to be closed for some time during the pandemic and at the time of the report was working hard to become fully staffed and to completely get the building refurbished having re-opened in January 2022. Any recommended actions following the visit are now complete meaning the service meets the standards for supported contact re-accreditation.
Photos from this centre
