PARENTS of young children have won a welcome reprieve with the provision of Occasional Care at Ararat North Primary School to continue into 2015.
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School council has decided to maintain the childcare program for the start of next year as it steps up efforts to find an outside provider.
Parents and the wider community had expressed deep concern at the prospect the program could cease at the end of 2014.
Closure had loomed due to the burgeoning costs that are associated with running the program.
Ararat North Primary School Acting Principal, Judy Hilbig said a decision on whether to close the program has been suspended as the search continues to find an alternate provider.
"I don't want to see it close, it is a great service, an essential service and the people who work there do a tremendous job" she said.
"We just can't afford the ongoing financial costs that are currently associated with it, by keeping it running for the start of next year hopefully this will give us the time we need to find another provider."
It had been feared that if the facility - the only of its kind in Ararat was forced to close, a large number of families who were already struggling to make ends meet would have been even worse off.
Outgoing school council president, Donna Dunmore said Ararat North Occasional Care has been classed as a community hub for disadvantaged parents who find themselves in need of respite.
"Our centre is an alternative for working parents and even those who just need a little time out to get things done without the hassle of also towing around a young child," she said.
"Our centre currently caters for 43 children, including a number of multi cultural children and special needs children who will be very difficult to fit into a normal long day care centre due to the extra time required for these children with their special needs problems and lack of understanding of the English language."
Ms Dunmore said she was happy with the decision to keep the centre open in to the new year.
"I am actually leaving the school this week after 13 years, nine of those as school council president," she said.
"So to be leaving the way this situation was a week ago was really worrying for me."
"What we really want is to be able to find an outside provider who can give this vital program a new lease of life."
Ms Dunmore said school council has already agreed to implement cost saving measures that should go some way to assisting with the financial position of the school.
"We have attempted to modify our hours strictly to a needs basis," she said.
"We have cut back from five days to three, have the potential to cut back even further and have also asked staff to drop hours."
Ms Dunmore said the council has also discussed increasing prices, however doing that would make it even more difficult for parents that are already struggling due to the lack of subsidy available to them for occasional care.
She said of main concern was the obvious differences between long day, family day care and occasional care subsidies available to parents of children in care.
"Currently occasional care parents receive around six cents in the dollar for their child in occasion care, the rationale is one staff member to every five children with a minimum of two staff at all times," she said.
"This means that one child in occasional care is charged $9.00 with two staff being required to be in attendance at any one time at an average of $22.00 per hour each, this is a long way from being financially viable with a centre like ours needing at least five children at any given time to even break even."
Parents who have any queries regarding the provision of Occasional Care at Ararat North Primary can contact the school on 5352 3766.