CHILDREN’S happy voices filled the air on a rainy night at Craigieburn’s Willmott Park Primary School, well after the bell had sounded the end of the academic day.
It was the ideal showcase for the federal government’s out-of-school-hours funding boost, with about 75 youngsters taking advantage of the service which ensures parents can finish work and commute, before picking up the reins on raising future generations.
“I’ve heard of other centres that have 120 [students] enrolled,” out-of-hours co-ordinator Lisa Claridge told the Weekly.
“A lot of parents now look around for after-school care before they even look for schools for their children. It’s important to them because without it they cannot work . . . and then there’s the single parents as well.”
Given its access to interpreter services, the centre is also vital for the diverse cultural communities in the Craigieburn area.
“There are many families with very limited English, who know no one,” Ms Claridge said. “They rely on us.”
McEwen MP Rob Mitchell said the new $450 million early years care expansion fund announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week would pay for up to 500 schools around the country.
But Ms Claridge warned that at least 50 per cent of any centre’s staff needed formal qualifications and staff-to-children ratios could not exceed 1:15.
“Offering more places is all well and good, but that’s not looking at the bigger picture,” she said.
