Legislative Council, Thursday 29 June 2023

Ms FORREST question to LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Mrs HISCUTT

With regard to the Child and Family Learning Centre in Queenstown;

1. What age children are able to access the programs and activities at the Centre?

2. For programs and activities for school aged children, if any, are children who are not enrolled in a school in the West Coast region able attend the various programs, including play groups and other play related activities and;
a) if not, why not?

3. Do capacity limits apply to the programs and activities offered at the Centre and
a) if so, do these limits apply to all programs; and
b) if not, which programs/activities do the limits apply to?

4. How many educators work at the Centre; and

5. What is the educator/child ratio at the Centre?

ANSWER:

1. Child and Family Learning Centres are place based, purpose-built centres providing holistic support to families and children pre-birth to five years old.
Activities and programs are for children pre-birth to five years old whose carers live on the West Coast – Tullah, Rosebery, Zeehan, Strahan and Queenstown as well as the hamlets of Linda, Gormanston, Trial Harbour and Granville Harbour.

Families must accompany their children. Carers are responsible for their children while at the Centre.

2. Child and Family Learning Centres are focused on providing access to free services and support for families and carers with children pre-birth to age five.

CFLCs don’t provide programs for school aged children.

3. CFLCs usually do not apply capacity limits to most birth to four programs, though limits can apply for some parenting programs and for special events such as the Easter Egg hunt and Christmas Party. This is to ensure that staff are able manage the logistics of running the event.

4. The staffing model for CFLCs includes one Centre Leader (Early Childhood Teacher) and three other roles that support community outreach and holistic universal and targeted support to families living in the catchment area. The Queenstown CFLC is staffed by five dedicated local West Coasters whose total contribution is 3.8FTE. They provide services and support to the entire West Coast area with over 100 children and their families supported to date in 2023.

5. Under the CFLC model, there is no requirement to adhere to an educator/child ratio as it is not a regulated day-care centre.

However, at Queenstown there are two staff on-site at a minimum and additional staff are scheduled as needed for Special Events.