Drop in creche hours lead to worries about future of community classes

Parents in the West Australian community of Kalamunda are concerned about a reduction in opening hours at the Kalamunda Community Learning Centre creche which may leave their capacity to attend classes in jeopardy. 

Staffing of the service has been changed from a paid position to a voluntary position, users of the creche shared with local news source Echo News. 

The creche has been a vital service for families in the community, providing quality, affordable care while parents and carers attend classes at the learning centre, learning a variety of skills from French to fibre art. 

Classes at the Community Learning Centre run Monday to Friday, with both morning and afternoon sessions.

Since the change from paid care to voluntary care, the creche is now only available on a Thursday morning, and in 2025 will only be available to already established users, meaning any new families undertaking learning in 2025 will not be able to access the creche.

“Many people enrolled in community learning centre classes are able to come during the day because of the on-site creche, and it would be so sad both for us as parents and for the life of the learning centre to lose that,” one parent said.

“They have also suggested some of the mums help run the creche, and we’re happy to take on some hours, but I don’t think they can realistically rely on the mums who need the creche to go to class when the creche isn’t there for us to use anymore.”

While there are other options for early learning and care in the community, they are cost prohibitive for many, she continued, and also not onsite. 

“This is a vital service to parents in our community, and I think the whole community should be allowed and encouraged to pitch in to keep it going, not just the parents who are going to use it,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of the Kalamunda Community Learning Centre coordinator Ann O’Malley said the creche would need the help of its parents and learning centre members to remain open.

“The cost of operating the creche with paid staff greatly outweighs the income generated from crèche attendees,” she said.

“A diligent member is working hard to offer a voluntary run crèche which the executive committee supports for next year.”

To access the original coverage of this story please see here.