The Gunnedah PCYC team is looking ahead to a bigger and better new year, when renovations allow it to offer more.
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The club has already boosted its services, offering after-school care since September, and before-school care since the start of this school term in mid-October.
Now, club manager Michelle Gosper said, renovations were about to start that would allow for a 100 per cent increase in capacity for before- and after-school care.
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Mrs Gosper has been in the role since September, after the departure of Andrew Formann, who went on to become a rural financial counsellor.
She said the care services at the award-winning centre had “been going really great” and “there was definitely a gap in services there” before.
“We’re getting a lot of casual bookings [for before-school care] at this stage; lots of childcare mums use our service if they’re called in for an early shift,” Mrs Gosper said.
“At the moment we’re only averaging about five kids a day, but we have the capacity to have 30, so we’re really hoping that we get an influx of Kindergarten kids next year.
“After-school care is basically full.”
Mrs Gosper said the PCYC and Department of Education were pitching in to expand and equip the space.
“PCYC is expanding our room for us and the department is paying for the fit-out and resources,” she said.
“Hopefully we’ll start knocking walls down before Christmas.”
Mrs Gosper said she thought the 60 places that would then be available would “definitely” be in demand.
“Possibly more so on a casual basis: people want one-off days, but we can’t offer that at the moment because we’re full.”
An 11-seater maxi bus, to replace the eight-eater and deliver more children at a time to their respective schools, was next on the wishlist.
Mrs Gosper said the PCYC was also looking forward to a busy vacation care, with the Lake Keepit water park, the movies, and “lots of fun Christmas activities” to keep the children active and entertained.