Little Angry DollChild Care - A Letter To the Minister for Education and Women’s Issues
September 15th 2006 10:06
To the Minister for Education and Women’s Issues
Dear Madam,
My eldest son will be turning 4 years old in February. He was on a waiting list for admission at our local Infants School for nearly a year, the longest opportunity the school gave for applications. Sadly, we did not get a placement because in November 2005, we moved and although this is the closest pre-school to us, we now live “out of area”. A 15 minute walk away. On further enquires, I discovered that we live “out of area” for the only other pre-school in our district.
I have spoken the administrator of the Infants School and have been told that had I stayed at my old address, I would have received a placement, but there is certainly no hope now. Our application was not even considered for the second round of offers.
When the child care centre my son attended, two blocks from my place of work, suddenly closed, he was moved to an another facility, a 45 minute walk away. I am currently on maternity leave with our second son, who is 12 weeks old.
This is non paid maternity leave as the industry I work in has no paid maternity. My workplace is a 5 minute walk from the Infants School. I live and work in my local community in Sydney’s Inner West.
When my maternity leave started, it was necessary for us to drop our child down to two days a week at day care because that was all we could afford on one income.
I walk 45 minutes to day care in the morning, 45 minutes back home, 45 minutes in the afternoon to pick him up and 45 minutes back home again. The walk is faster than waiting for two buses and easier with a young child in a pram and baby in a sling.
In the meantime, our new baby has been on a waiting list for day care for 46 weeks – even though he is only 12 weeks old. We told day care we were pregnant before we told friends and family. When we are offered a place next year, I will have to pass as we can not afford to have two children in day care five days a week. After day care is paid, I would take home less than $50 each week, provided I returned to the same position. This, of course, will have an effect on my ability to return to work after the 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave is over. I have worked for the same company for 6 years, but I can not imagine returning to my old position after a year and a half’s absence, and I can not fairly expect my employer to keep my position open for me that long.
What saddens and angers me the most is the effect with will have on my son’s development. He is quite advanced and was moved “up” early at day care. He has little interest in the activities provided for his age group and thrives with older children. Last year, he saw some of his older friends go up to school. This year, he will see children his own age leave for school and want to know why he is being “held back”. He is an intelligent child and was looking forward to starting school. Now he is faced with a year of languishing at day care, where he has already become bored with a program that is certainly caring, but fails to stimulate through teaching.
Perhaps you can explain to him why the education system has failed him before he has even started.
In their Placement Guidelines, the Infants School adheres to “…a strict Department of Education and Training environment policy…” for placement. The “in area” map where priority was given, covers an appallingly small area, including three large blocks of what can only be deemed “non residential” as there are only approximately 30 houses in a predominantly a retail strip.
Thank you for reading this letter.
*** The names of the day care centre, Infant School, streets, suburbs and children have been removed for this blog post***
Dear Madam,
My eldest son will be turning 4 years old in February. He was on a waiting list for admission at our local Infants School for nearly a year, the longest opportunity the school gave for applications. Sadly, we did not get a placement because in November 2005, we moved and although this is the closest pre-school to us, we now live “out of area”. A 15 minute walk away. On further enquires, I discovered that we live “out of area” for the only other pre-school in our district.
I have spoken the administrator of the Infants School and have been told that had I stayed at my old address, I would have received a placement, but there is certainly no hope now. Our application was not even considered for the second round of offers.
When the child care centre my son attended, two blocks from my place of work, suddenly closed, he was moved to an another facility, a 45 minute walk away. I am currently on maternity leave with our second son, who is 12 weeks old.
This is non paid maternity leave as the industry I work in has no paid maternity. My workplace is a 5 minute walk from the Infants School. I live and work in my local community in Sydney’s Inner West.
When my maternity leave started, it was necessary for us to drop our child down to two days a week at day care because that was all we could afford on one income.
I walk 45 minutes to day care in the morning, 45 minutes back home, 45 minutes in the afternoon to pick him up and 45 minutes back home again. The walk is faster than waiting for two buses and easier with a young child in a pram and baby in a sling.
In the meantime, our new baby has been on a waiting list for day care for 46 weeks – even though he is only 12 weeks old. We told day care we were pregnant before we told friends and family. When we are offered a place next year, I will have to pass as we can not afford to have two children in day care five days a week. After day care is paid, I would take home less than $50 each week, provided I returned to the same position. This, of course, will have an effect on my ability to return to work after the 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave is over. I have worked for the same company for 6 years, but I can not imagine returning to my old position after a year and a half’s absence, and I can not fairly expect my employer to keep my position open for me that long.
What saddens and angers me the most is the effect with will have on my son’s development. He is quite advanced and was moved “up” early at day care. He has little interest in the activities provided for his age group and thrives with older children. Last year, he saw some of his older friends go up to school. This year, he will see children his own age leave for school and want to know why he is being “held back”. He is an intelligent child and was looking forward to starting school. Now he is faced with a year of languishing at day care, where he has already become bored with a program that is certainly caring, but fails to stimulate through teaching.
Perhaps you can explain to him why the education system has failed him before he has even started.
In their Placement Guidelines, the Infants School adheres to “…a strict Department of Education and Training environment policy…” for placement. The “in area” map where priority was given, covers an appallingly small area, including three large blocks of what can only be deemed “non residential” as there are only approximately 30 houses in a predominantly a retail strip.
Thank you for reading this letter.
*** The names of the day care centre, Infant School, streets, suburbs and children have been removed for this blog post***
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Comment by Cinico
Small Business Scope
I think that's absolutely ridiculous.....you have to wonder what the government think at times!
Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life