Improved childcare provision in village is groups’ key aim

Jun 26 2008 by Lesley Brown, Hamilton Advertiser

RASCALS playgroup and Stonehouse Development Trust are in talks with South Lanarkshire Council about creating a new childcare facility in the village.

The two organisations are currently negotiating with the local authority to source a piece of land to install a Lilliput PortaKabin, a purpose-build childcare building.

The cabins, which are designed by early-years architects, incorporate child-friendly features including vibrant colours and furnishings, and child-level windows.

Rascals and Stonehouse Development Trust hope to lease land from the local authority to install this facility, and are calling for parents in the village to back-up the proposal by providing Rascals and the development trust with details of their childcare needs.

There is a shortage of childcare provision in Stonehouse, with no full-time nursery placements available in the village. If plans are successful, Rascals playgroup, which has operated for 11 years, would be able to provide full-time childcare for two to five-year-olds and would even consider running an after-school club.

As well as providing convenient and quality childcare for those living in Stonehouse, the initiative would also provide employment opportunities in the area.

Any profit made from the venture would be released back into community beneficial projects.

Rascals is a voluntary sector organisation who operate in a ‘partnership provider’ capacity with the local authority, whereby children of three and four are given funded nursery placements in private childcare facilities.

Rascals initially operated from St Ninian’s Parish Church, but relocated to the Public Institute after three years in order to provide more childcare hours. Sylvia McCrindle, who runs Rascals, said she would now like to expand the service further.

She said the difficulty posed by operating from the Public Institute, a shared access building, is that there are limits on the number of childcare hours the nursery can provide.

Ms McCrindle said: “Our main objective would be to expand and improve the service we are able to provide.

“Most people aren’t in a position to limit the number of weeks they work in a year, so part-time and term-time childcare often isn’t suitable.

“I know several parents who have to take their children outwith Stonehouse to nurseries that can offer longer hours, and I think it would be much more convenient for those with young children to have that service on their doorstep.”

A community-wide consultation process is due to take place soon and a childcare questionnaire being distributed in the July edition of the ‘Community Matters’ newsletter.

Both Stonehouse Development Trust and Rascals urge the community to complete the details of their childcare needs to aid the initiative at this early stage.

Questionnaires can also be obtained from the development trust office on King Street.