Updates

Communityworks Appoints New CEO

My name is Vikrant Bhatia I am an experienced charity-sector leader with over 23 years’ experience in community development, strategic programme management, project delivery, fundraising, and leading organisational change across complex, multi-agency environments.

My career has been dedicated to tackling disadvantage, strengthening local capacity, and improving life chances for children, young people, and families — values that strongly align with Communityworks’ mission.

I have led a wide range of services and programmes across Leeds, Bradford, and nationally, including Better Start initiatives, community health development in inner-city neighbourhoods, youth social action, family intervention, and employment and training support for care-experienced young people, those affected by domestic violence, and young people impacted by crime and violence.

I am proud to be joining Communityworks at such an important time and look forward to working closely with partners, trustees, staff, volunteers, and residents to build on its strong foundations. I am highly motivated by the opportunity to lead the organisation into its next phase of impact, sustainability, and strategic growth.

Help with managing children’s digital lives

Parenting today can feel overwhelming — especially when childhood looks so different from what we grew up with. There’s no manual, and it can be hard to keep up with the fast-changing digital world your child moves through every day. This guide aims to make those conversations easier and help you support your child with confidence. Click here.

Find the options available to you if you need help with childcare

Enter your details to help find out how you can save money on your childcare.

Click here

If you need a nursery place contact our Outstanding Nursery on 01274 200589

NOTICE & AGENDA FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

OTLEY ROAD & UNDERCLIFFE COMMUNITY WORKS

Tuesday 25th November 2025 7.00pm

Agenda

1) Chair’s Opening Remarks

2) Declaration of Interests & Apologies for Absence

3) Minutes of the AGM 26th December 2024 – Accuracy + matters arising not on this agenda

4) Approval of Statutory Accounts for year to 31 March 2025

5) Approval of Directors Annual Report for year to 31 March 2025

6) Election of Directors on rotation (3-year terms)

7) Appointment of External Auditors for 2026

8) Any Other Urgent Business

Latest News

We are now offering FREE 30 hours of childcare during term time for working parents with children aged 2 to 4 years old.

Do you work and need a nursery you can trust?

Are you looking for a nursery that not only provides excellent care but also offers your child rich, engaging experiences to help them develop the skills they need to be ready for Reception class by age four?

Choose our Outstanding Nursery — where your child’s future begins.

As part of a thriving Community Project, we offer much more than just childcare — we support the whole family. We are proud to have been rated Outstanding by Ofsted for the second time in a row. This reflects our deep commitment to high-quality care and early education, because we understand that a child’s life chances are shaped by the caregiving and experiences they receive in their early years.

Give your child the very best start — come and see what makes our nursery so special.

Let’s Get Bradford Talking

Click here for resources to help your child develop their speech and language.

From January 2025 Communityworks will not open the main building on a Friday until 3.30pm. Nursery will continue to be open on Fridays – just not the rest of the building. We don’t run any activities during the day until the After School Club starts at 3.30pm. Nursery parents should use their entrance as normal. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Communityworks will be closed from Monday 23rd December and will reopen on Monday 6th January 2025.

We wish you a peaceful and joyful Christmas and that 2025 will be a great year for you, perhaps you will start something new?

Communityworks is looking forward to yet another year of doing all we can to support the area to thrive and you to be the best you can be! We are very blessed to have a great staff team who go above and beyond.

NOTICE & AGENDA FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

OTLEY ROAD & UNDERCLIFFE COMMUNITY WORKS

Tuesday 26th November 2024 7.00pm

Agenda

1) Chair’s Opening Remarks

2) Declaration of Interests & Apologies for Absence

3) Minutes of the AGM 5th December 2023 – Accuracy + matters arising not on this agenda

4) Approval of Statutory Accounts for year to 31 March 2024

5) Approval of Directors Annual Report for year to 31 March 2024

6) Election of Directors on rotation (3-year terms)

7) Appointment of External Auditors for 2025

8) Any Other Urgent Business

Changes to After School Clubs (starting 20/9/24)

As you know we have been running After School Clubs for as many years as we have been here, and we want to continue running them into the future. For a very long time we were funded by Children in Need, and they paid for the salaries of the staff, but in March 2023 they told us that they could not fund us anymore. In March 2024 we were able to ask Children in Need again for funding but again they said no. Last September we reduced the number of days we could run After School Clubs to Wednesday through to Saturday. From this September we are going to run After School Clubs on Fridays and Saturdays. We will continue to run holiday playschemes as they are well attended.

The reasons are:

  • Not many children come to the clubs anymore.
  • We have not been given any funding to run the clubs.
  • There are more clubs run by schools than before.
  • Families don’t seem to want their children to come like they did in the past.
  • As the numbers have been too low it has been decided that offering 3 clubs per week meets the current level of demand and we are using our reserves to cover this cost.

We realise that this will come as a shock to those of you who come along regularly, and we do feel very sad about this. It costs over £500,000 a year to run Communityworks and it is difficult to get funding to continue and therefore when a group is not well attended, we need to consider whether it can continue.

We have thought long and hard about this decision and if the situation changes in the future, we will look at it again. I hope you understand and that you will continue to support the clubs we deliver.

These are some other sessions that run, with a couple of local options:

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