Narrogin parents desperate for dedicated children’s centre after REED Narrogin cancels after-school care

Narrogin families are desperate after the latest in a series of blows to the town’s limited childcare options. In an email to parents on May 28, REED Narrogin announced the closure of its before-school, after-school, and holiday care, which it has run since 2018. The program was running out of the art room at Narrogin Primary School but when the school decided not to renew REED’s lease in December, the not-for-profit organisation moved its service to its daycare centre on William Kennedy Way. It had been accommodating 30 children, but the move reduced the capacity to just 10 and put additional strain on the already stretched daycare centre. Daycare parents were asked to take their children home earlier to accommodate after-school care, and staff found they were responsible for a much wider age range of children, with the older school-aged children requiring more support and supervision. Since the after-school care’s final day of service on June 30, distressed parents have been grappling with difficult decisions, including whether to alter their work hours or even resign from their jobs. The saga has highlighted Narrogin’s critical need for a dedicated children’s centre, an idea Narrogin Children and Families Incorporated has been raising funds for since September. NCFI president and mother-of-three Kellie Wilkins, who works part-time at a local bank, said an appropriate after-school care facility was essential for working families. “Not everyone is in a position where they can adjust their work hours,” she said. “Between mums, we’re doing a bit of child sharing to get us through term three and figure out a more permanent solution. “I’d hate to have to quit but if we’ve got no option, then that’s the reality. “Others haven’t had an option because their work couldn’t offer flexible hours.” But the NCFI children’s centre was still a long way off, so REED and parents were looking for a new after-school care location, REED cluster manager Tracey Foster said. “Every building the shire said we could look at is in a terrible state of repair,” Ms Foster said. “One had decommissioned toilets, another the roof was coming in, or they have not been financially viable, and none of those has been suitable. “We’ve been looking for months and months, probably everything available, and I don’t know if there’s anything else out there.” Ms Foster said if a building was appropriate but needed work, REED would put in the time and funds to get it up to scratch. “I feel for the parents,” she said. “We have children come to daycare but their siblings can’t because they’re over a certain age. “That’s hard.” Narrogin is classed as a childcare desert, with 0.23 childcare places per child, according to research by the Mitchell Institute.