RGS

Families with Children

The sections below provide further information on arrangements for childcare and education in the UK.

Pregnancy and infants

The NHS has a comprehensive range of services available to help you through pregnancy, childbirth and with infant children. As soon as you find out you are expecting a baby, you need to get in touch with your GP who will be able to inform you of the antenatal services available in your area. These services include appointing you a midwife to help you through pregnancy, the birth and infant health checks, and antenatal classes to help you prepare for the birth and how to look after and feed your baby.

Your GP and midwife will be able to advise you on all the services available to you. Around ten days after the birth you will see a health visitor. These are specialist nurses whose role is to help families, especially those with babies and young children. Your health visitor will be able to answer all your baby-related questions and inform you of NHS support groups available.

The NHS website outlines the services available: www.nhs.uk.

Childcare

Ofsted

Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education and Child Services and Skills) are an independent regulator that inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people, and those providing education and skills for learners of all ages. They produce a report on all facilities that they inspect and these are available on the Ofsted website.

Schools (age 4 to 18 years)