Andrew Barr sent out to close the pre-schools

Fiona I have. The Team Leader has a Ba Ed (Early Childhood).

My son went to the same daycare centre and was more prepared than most of the children in his class.

One idea is to have a pre-school attached to a childcare centre.

In the Evatt and Gowrie areas this does happen. Staff walk the children to the pre-school – no less than 5m away – and collect the children again when pre-school is finished.

And I keep hearing in the media about the “baby bounce” – the sudden increase in babies being born as Gen Xers have bought houses in the recent housing boom. Are we closing preschools that will need to be reopened in three or four years?

Yes I agree with all of you. Maybe a new approach to preschool education is required, given current family statistics. But blindly closing preschools which have seen enrolments drop is not solving the problem, just eliminating it. Handing childrens right of government based local preschool education to the private childcare centres is totally wrong, especially in the older areas of Canberra. Theres still a lot of kids there, its just they’re in part or full time childcare.

The ideal would be a childcare centre that could do pickup/drop-off from a nearby preschool, or a preschool that had an after-school care program. That would enable working mothers to do a true full day at work.

Most preschools are now running a combination of two full days (9-3) and 3 short days (9-1).

You’ll need to pick a good child care centre to find one that delivers a program as good as most of the gov preschools here. Good luck to you if you have, nyssa76!

See themclose them down, then wonder why the waitlists go up elsewhere…

It’s not just for a year if you have multiple kids. It lasts until the youngest has started “big school”. I understand and agree with preschools providing a different environment to childcare, but that doesn’t change the logistics of working part time with kids in multiple different environments.

Preschools and childcare centres are completely different. My kids both went to their local govvie preschool right through, but I also required part time childcare around these hours. Preschool was crucial for them in recieving specialised preschool education, which is specifically geared at preparing them for ‘big school’ by developing their interpersonal and organisational skills, and meeting other kids that they then knew on the first day of school. Preschool gets the network thing going. Childcare doesnt do that. It is merely aimed at serving parents needs for a safe and interesting environment for their children while they are at work, of course necessary and vital don’t get me wrong. But Preschools are there for the kids, Thats the difference. Yeah so you need to juggle half days, yes it’s difficult, but it’s only for a year or so, and SO worth it if you can do it.
Mr Barr, Roll out full day preschool, say 2 full days,per week instead of the existing 4 half days, at all preschools and enrolments will skyrocket as parents can rely on that and part time childcare. Also preschool fees should be tax deductible.

A “full day” at preschool is only six hours, which means you can only work five hours. If you also have younger kids, you still have to pay a full day’s fees for them, but you only get five hours pay to cover it.

As most working mothers are on lower than average salaries (try getting a promotion when you work part time or on maternity leave!) this makes pre-school less useful as a childcare option.

They were trialling 2-3 full days a week.

My child’s day care offers a pre-school program so I don’t need to leave work to drop her off and pick her up. Plus, she’s already got friends in her daycare centre who do the pre-school program with her.

One reason public pre-schools are under-enrolled is they do not offer full time child care facilities. Most pre-school programs are (I think – correct me if I’m wrong) only a few hours a week, usually only mornings or a couple of days a week. If you work full time, you still need to pay for child care, and many child care centres offer a pre-school program.