The Co-operative Food - Freshwater, Afton Road

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across south-west London, north-west London and Surrey. We’re here to make every moment count, whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months, or years. We support families from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional, and medical care. Our specialist care and support is free of charge and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We support around 600 babies, children, or young adults who have a life-limiting condition and their families, as well as around 400 bereaved families. It costs £12 million a year to run Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, so we rely on the generosity of our supporters to keep our services going.

We are a 72 place Children's day nursery with creche and after school facilities. Established 1992, West Wight Nursery is based on the site of St. Saviour's Catholic Primary School in Totland in its own separate building and is a community nursery welcoming all children between the ages of 3 months to 12 years. Staff at West Wight Nursery provide education and care to meet each child's developmental needs. "Excellent staff interactions and effective teaching techniques ensure that all children's future learning steps are identified and monitored exceptionally well. This means that children make very good progress" Ofsted 2013. Children have free flow access to the outside area daily and are able to mix with children from other groups. We utilise this area to its full potential by developing a planting program in the allotment and using the area of natural copse to promote an awareness of nature. The children also have access to chickens which are kept in our coop in the garden. We have great fun collecting the eggs daily as well as learning to feed and care for the birds. Children also have the opportunity to access the trickle stream and sensory bike track. This enables us to maximise the children's pre-school experiences, covering all seven areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Children can attend our after school Fun Club from 2.45-5pm daily during term time and from 8am to 5pm during school holiday periods. We also provide a breakfast club from 7.30-8.45am during term time. Parents are encouraged to stay and play for short sessions until their child is ready to be left in our care. Our toddler group is now being held at Barnado's Family Center Moa Place, Freshwater. We are running the group every Monday morning from 09.30-11.00am (term time only). Meet new friends. Children age 0-4 years welcome with parents/carers. No need to book, just come along. We offer parents use of our sensory room on a Wednesday afternoon for babies and are just piloting a drop and stay sessions with tea and toast for moms to combat social isolation and mental health anxiety. Our allotment is accessed by the Time Bank and we work closely with Totland Parish Council, and other partners such as the Afton Road Coop and Wight Aid who are instrumental in keeping our services available to teh community.

Sophie Rolf was a beautiful, happy, larger than life little girl. She enjoyed doing all things little girls love, especially her swimming and dance classes. Sophie started school in September 2011, joining her big brother Jack at St Saviours Primary School in Totland on the Isle of Wight. During May 2012 we noticed a tremor in Sophie’s left arm and, after numerous hospital visits and finally an MRI scan in June, we received the terrible news that no parent wants to hear - Sophie had a ‘Supratentorial high grade Glioma, bilateral thalamic tumour’. This is an aggressive brain tumour located in a very awkward part of the brain. We were told that the tumour was inoperable and the prognosis poor. Sophie faced things that no child or adult should have to go through. Neuro surgery to fit shunts, central line surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, a trial drug, numerous MRI & CT scans, homeopathic drugs and other tests were all met with determination, strength, courage and most of all always a smile. She made us so proud to call her our daughter. As a family we never gave up hope and actively pursued other medical opinions from Europe and the rest of the world – however each reply reinforced the original diagnosis. Sadly Sophie lost her fight in November 2013 at home alongside her family that adored her so much. She didn’t suffer and as always, she decided when the time was right. ‘KissyPuppy’ was originally set up to enable friends and family to fund raise for Sophie and initially was used to support Sophie’s journey through this including travelling to and from appointments on the mainland, any equipment needed and creating magical experiences and memories. We chose the name ‘KissyPuppy’ as this was a word Sophie used for a very special sort of cuddle and kiss reserved only for her big brother Jack. What this devastating process highlighted to us as a family was the limited healthcare options available for children with life shortening conditions on the Isle of Wight. There is no specialist children’s hospice on the Isle of Wight. Families are offered the option of travelling to Winchester for respite or end of life care, which is a three hour journey each way, relying on Ferries. Travelling to the mainland at the point when Sophie was very poorly is something we did not want to be thinking about. The Mountbatten Hospice provides comprehensive end-of-life healthcare for the Isle of Wight community. They support and care for adults living with and dying from a life-shortening illness and, working in partnership with the local NHS, they are extending these services to children. Sophie said early on in her treatment that she wanted to help other children as they have helped her.........so that is what we have pledged to do. We have joined forces with the Mountbatten Hospice and the local NHS to help support and develop services on the Island for children and young people.