No reprieve for creche

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 6

No reprieve for creche

The Nursery Parents’ .Association is distressed by ■ the decision of the Avonside I Girls’ High School board of j governors to close the school’s day-care centre. The board on Monday reaffirmed its decision, made late last year, to close the creche. The association says that the board’s original reasons tor closing it were answered by the association at that time, and that no further issues appear to be behind Monday’s decision. It says that more children are in the creche now than were expected when the board made its earlier decision to close because of financial problems and difficulty in getting patronage. The board’s acting chairman (Dr A. W. Baird) said that the creche had become a service not intended by the board when it was first agreed to. It was set up to provide day-care facilities for pre-school children of parents teaching at the school, but had become a day-care centre not only for teachers at other schools but parents in the area. “This is outside the scope of this board’s proper activities,” he said. “We are already interpreting the Education Department’s regulations in dubious fashion,

and to embark on a bigger venture would make it a 1 commercial venture and t financially hazardous.” < At present there were t only three children in the < creche of parents who t taught at Avonside. and on that basis the service was 1 not viable. j The provisional licence for 1 the creche expires on March s 31, and this was the date t the board had chosen to end t the service. Members of the I association had been told I four months in advance to i give them time to arrange { other care for their children, \

An association membe Mrs J. K. Dollan, said that the board was quite possibly closing the service because the working deficit had been cleared, but Dr Baird said this was not the case. Also the board would have had to improve its premises to qualify for a full-time licence. Dr Baird said The association said that it could have coped with the requisite work, but Dr Baird said the board did not want to become involved in a bigger venture when patronage of the kind it wanted was difficult to find.