Take twos...helping families to access provision
James Hempsall
Friday, March 22, 2013
Creating additional places for two-year-olds in some areas is proving more challenging than in others. James Hempsall describes how one centre has set up a mini-bus service to bring children in from areas where places are full.
Oasis Community Childcare Centre is owned by Ludgvan Community Childcare Centre.
Committee-run, it opened in 1996 in the grounds of Ludgvan CP Primary in a village near Penzance. The nursery reports a close relationship with the school and community. It moved to new, purpose-built premises on the site in 2010.
The nursery has been providing places since 1996 and has been collaborating with the council and other providers to prepare for September 2013 and benefit from sharing or pooling resources. This is part of a locality plan.
The nursery has also created its own action plan which has four useful ideas. Step one is the nursery will create 24 afternoon places to meet the immediate need of the community. This part of the day is currently under-used.
Step two is making alterations to the original community building next door to create 20 places in the morning, and possibly afternoons, if these are required. Local authority capital investment will help make the alterations and provide resources.
Providers in other areas of Penzance are believed to be able to extend and re-model to meet the initial increase in demand. However, there may be few opportunities to create new provision as demand increases in the future. Planning shows that providers may soon have no capacity and families will be required to travel further afield. This is where step three comes in. The school has two mini buses. Oasis will use these buses to offer parents transport to and from the nursery. The nursery has invested in age-appropriate car seats, and staff have undertaken the required qualification and training to be able to drive the mini buses. The nursery will only offer a pick-up service in areas where provision is full.
Of course, all this will also create new jobs, or additional hours for part-time staff. Local providers, including Oasis, have also taken a locality approach to the recruitment of these new staff. They have pooled finance for an advertising and recruitment campaign which has attracted a great deal of interest. So there you are:four interesting ideas to consider.
James Hempsall is director of Hempsalls
