THE parents of children enrolled at Wycheproof’s YMCA Early Years say they have been “let down” by unreliable service delivery.
Parent Advisory Group president Tessa Coles told The Guardian families had been struggling with insecure service, including staffing changes, sudden cancellations and an overall “lack of communication”.
While the group has taken their concerns directly to YMCA Early Years, Ms Coles said they felt they had been de-prioritised due to the size and rural location of the centre.
“At the centre here, we are now on our fourth kinder teacher for the year, and that teacher is actually on placement, so she’s away for six weeks and they’re running an activities program, in place of kinder,” Ms Coles said, adding there were concerns among the parents of how this would affect the children heading to school next term.
“We have had three cancelled sessions with no prior warning, on a Tuesday we rocked up and it was cancelled and we were told the Wednesday session would also be cancelled.
“We had a session last week that was cancelled at 9am, so we had parents, like myself, I was late to school and I had to rock up with a child in tow, because there was no prior warning.”
Ms Coles has two children who attend the preschool and said more than 11 families currently paid for and relied on the service, which is not subsidised because it is integrated with a daycare, to be provided.
She said no reimbursement had been offered for the cancelled sessions.
She said while the idea of make up sessions had been raised, it was unclear when or if these would take place.
“They are blaming staffing for the current set up of the activities program, but they employed our kinder teacher, who they knew would have to go on six weeks placement, they had over a term to organise a replacement and haven’t done so,” Ms Coles said.
The Wycheproof Parent Advisory Group is an active supporter of the preschool, having raised $12,000 this year to cover the deficit, “just to keep the centre afloat”, in addition to paying fees.
“We have also had a halt on enrollments, despite the fact we are not full to capacity, according to the ratios, which is a little bit frustrating for some families who are trying to get in,” Ms Coles said, adding uncapping enrollments could help fund the preschool.
She added parents had been advised to take their children to “nearby centres” at Donald and Birchip.
“We were told Birchip and Donald were not too far a drive,” Ms Coles said.
“It might only be half an hour, but that’s an hour return, and then you have to pick up, so that’s two hours out of your day and for a working parent, which most of us are, it’s not doable.
“I actually utilise Birchip because I need an extra day, and they’re basically full on the days for next year already, so we’re being told to drive to a centre that is already full.”
Ms Coles said the frustration for parents utilising the centre had reached its limit, prompting them to reach out to local MPs and media.
“So do we feel like we’re being heard? I would say initially no, however now there has been external pressure we feel like we’re getting some form of a response,” Ms Coles said.
Uncertainty around next year’s timetable has added to the stress on local families.
“We’re in late October, and parents don’t even know if we have child care running here next year, or what days the kinder sessions are going to be on,” Ms Coles said.
“It’s not enough time for planning, other centres in the area already have their forms out, parents already know if they’ve made the cut or not for child care, in comparison we are way behind.”
Ms Coles said parents believed they were not being listened to because “we’re small fish in a big pond for them”.
“We’re one of their smaller centres, we’re probably around their smallest amount of enrollments so we think their care factor is close to nothing,” she said.
Ms Coles said interest from other families in the area indicated the center’s enrollment had the capacity to increase, if uncapped.
“We could have close to 15 families involved now, but they have stopped us letting more families in, the reason given being because we are using the integrated service, the ratios put out by the department don’t relate to us,” she said.
Ms Coles said moving forward, parents hoped to see the services paid for, delivered.
“Going forward, we just want a reliable and consistent service where parents can rock up and drop off their children when they’re expecting to,” she said.
Ms Coles said the parents group had been in contact with council and a number of MPs, around both the service and the state of the current facilities.
“We’re in the black spot of Victoria academically, our kids when they’re getting to school, research is showing they are behind their metro counterparts and really the focus should be on areas like these and I feel like it’s still not, they still haven’t got it right,” Ms Coles said.
“We’re paying these fees but look at the facility we’re working out of, I don’t know anywhere in the state that would be dealing with a 1960s building like we are, where staff are expected to go to the toilet in the same room of the students and there’s no safety door handles, no wheelchair access, no pram access.”
Ms Coles said with the number of young couples in the area expanding, there was a clear need for child care services in the near future.
*breakout*
PARENT Laura Bish is frustrated at the service.
“We’re the heart and soul of the shire, and families can’t get child care,” she said.
While staffing issues may be a factor, Ms Bish said a solution needed to be found.
“At the end of the day it is not good enough, so whatever noise we have to make, whoever we have to speak to we will,” Ms Bish said.
“It is our kids that are missing out and that gap is just getting further and further apart.
“We’re paying for childcare, we’re paying the big fees and we’re not getting the service.”
Ms Bish said parents wanted to be proud of their local services.
“They have been contracted to his are to provide the service, and they’re just not listening,” she said.
“And the service they are giving us is just not up to standard and we want to see them change that.
“We want families to say ‘yeah, we have a great daycare here’, we’re the heart of the shire, but we probably have the oldest facility now, and we can’t get our kids in.”
Sandy Pollington has had three children attend the three-year-old kindergarten and said a lack of reliable childcare was a “real challenge” for the town.
“I’m a past parent, I haven’t accessed the daycare service due to the cost and it wasn’t run often enough to warrant being able to get a job, so I had to wait until the kids were in school to back into the workforce,” she said.
“It is a real challenge for the town, already being a low socio-economic region.
“We need access to services and this is another issue that is just not giving the families a chance to thrive.”
Ms Pollington said there had definitely been a “baby boom” since she went through the centre.
“There has definitely been a spike, when my kids went through there were five families, now there’s over 11, it has more than doubled,” she said.
“Having a parents group that are very involved, and always have been, we have put so much effort into fundraising and keeping the facilities nice and safe for the children and staff, it’s just a shame we have been let down, essentially.”
*breakout*
THE YMCA says it is “committed” to the delivery of a quality service.
Grampians Region and Ballarat YMCA chief executive officer Brooke LeSueur said the organisation was aware of parent’s concerns and attributed difficulties to a “genuine shortage” of childcare professionals in the region.
“The YMCA are aware that there are some parents who have raised concerns about the Wycheproof Pre School,” Ms LeSueur said.
” The preschool has had staff changes this year, a new teacher was recruited mid year to replace a teacher that had left the service.
“The YMCA is committed to quality services that are viable and meet community need.
“We also acknowledge that the staffing at rural centres is challenging, not only Wycheproof but a genuine shortage of qualified staff across all rural areas.”
Ms LeSueur said the integrated nature of the centre had exacerbated the issue.
“The model of delivery at Wycheproof is an integrated model which includes kindergarten for four year olds, kindergarten for three year old and long day care operating at the same time,” Ms Le Sueur said.
“Qualified staffing is required to meet the regulations for providing this service.
“Unfortunately when staff are sick we do not have a pool of casual staff that are always able to fill the shift with the required qualification.
“This has resulted in the service needing to close for that day as we cannot meet the regulations for providing the service.
The YMCA is continuing to work with the Buloke Council, the Parent Advisory Group and the government in the provision of services at Wycheproof.”
Buloke Shire Council chief executive officer Anthony Judd said council had heard parents’ concerns and were engaging with the YMCA on the issues.
“Council is listening to the community and working with the YMCA and department to understand the underlying issues and challenges of service delivery in a rural area so we can look towards solutions for Wycheproof and the wider Buloke community,” Mr Judd said.
“We understand the importance of high quality early childhood services and the role kindergarten plays in school readiness and we will continue to work with stakeholders and advocate for accessible opportunities.”
