Parents rally for care

By Tania Martin
A GROUP of Mt Dandenong parents are hoping to set up a community childcare centre after the local occasional care was forced to close last term.
Lisa Alsop of Mt Dandenong said parents were given a week’s notice that the centre was about to close.
“We didn’t even know it was in trouble,” she said.
Ms Alsop said there are 35 kids wanting places in occasional care but parents don’t want to take their kids off the mountain to be looked after.
She said after the Mt Dandenong Pre-School decided to close its occasional care, a group of parents formed a working group in an attempt to get a non-profit community childcare centre established.
Mt Dandenong Pre-School committee president Deb Milner said the decision to close the centre was a difficult one to make but the program had lost $7000 in the past year.
She said the program’s loses were being subsidised through the kindergarten’s fundraising and fees.
“It was a difficult decesion to make but with no government or council funding we had to close it down to keep the kinder financially viable,” she said.
Ms Alsop said there were no other childcare centres in the Mt Dandenong region which offer occasional care so the parents joined together to find a solution.
The parents are now calling a public meeting on Tuesday 13 November at the St Michael and All Angels Church on the corner of Mt Dandenong Tourist Road and Falls Road, Kalorama, at 7.30pm.
Ms Alsop said the group of parents are hoping to run a non-profit occasional care program out of the old Olinda Community House building adjacent to the town’s primary school.
She said it was hoped that the centre would run three days a week with a choice of five or three hour sessions.
Ms Alsop said the centre would offer classes which are very similar to kindergarten for children aged between 12 months and 5 years old.
“We will offer planned activities such as craft time, outdoor play and reading time,” she said.
Ms Alsop said although the parents were shocked by the sudden closure of the occasional care program, they were now pulling together to help get the community centre off the ground.
It is hoped that the project will be up and running by the start of next year.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the proposed community childcare centre should attend the meeting next week.