After-school service closes
By Michelle Neathercote
Stanwell Park parents are being forced to seek alternative arrangements for their children following the sudden announcement by Illawarra Children’s Services that it will close the Out of School Hours service in 2006.
At a meeting attended by parents, Stanwell Park Public School principal Keith Tomlinson and Wollongong City councillor Alice Cartan, the president of the Illawarra Children’s Services Board, Jennifer Dixon, said Stanwell Park was the only service being closed in the Illawarra area.
She said numbers were not sufficient to meet the service provider’s overhead costs due to lost Federal government funding. The centre would need at least 30 children a day to break even which is double the current number.
Ms Dixon confirmed that Illawarra Children’s Services (an independent, not-for-profit organisation) had at least nine staff at its head office, which formed part of their overhead costs along with staff salaries, insurance, worker’s compensation and other expenses.
Rental for the premises at Stanwell Park is not a consideration, however, as Illawarra Children’s Services pays Wollongong City Council a peppercorn rent of $1 a year for use of the Children’s Services Centre.
“We’re not against helping local families but we had to make a decision between areas of need and lower socio-economic areas have greater needs than the Stanwell Park area,” said Ms Dixon.
The threat of closure had been an issue two years ago but a concerted campaign by local parents and funding from the Federal Government (which has now been withdrawn) allowed it to stay open.
Robert and Ann-Marie Deacon, who live across the road from Stanwell Park school, say they are considering sending their kindergarten child to the school where one of them works (an hour away) rather than have her travel to another OOSH service located far from her home and school. The alternative would be to send her to another school out of her local area that has access to OOSH services.
“This is a ridiculous situation because it means our children – and many other kids in Stanwell Park – may not be able to go to their local school because there are no before or after school services, yet there’s a perfectly good facility just up the road!” said Rob.
“This isn’t just an issue affecting parents who need care now but will affect hundreds of Stanwell Park parents who will need out of school hours care in the future. Not having services like these can also impact badly on local school enrolments, which in turn reduces its effectiveness as a strong community school.”
A Parent Committee has been formed to develop options for keeping the service operational in 2006. Expressions of interest from families who would like to access out of hours school care in Stanwell Park next year should fill out a form available from the Administration Office of Stanwell Park Public School.
