Care service aims for July holidays

Gladesville Public School’s vacation care service is to be re-established following strong opposition to the service’s relocation to North Ryde late last year.

Ryde City Council last week resolved to begin talks with school principal Judy Partland, aiming to have the service up and running in time for the July school holidays.

Council staff decided to relocate the service last November, following fears that the agreement was of a “tenuous nature”.

The decision attracted strong disapproval from the service’s regular users, with a number of phone calls, letters, and a 54-signature petition being made to Council.

Gladesville resident and long-time service user Susan Lister said the sudden cessation of the vacation care left a “big gap” in the Gladesville and Putney areas.

She also said that the relocation to North Ryde made even less sense, given that a quarter of the working families in the City of Ryde used the Gladesville Public School service.

Figures released by Council confirmed this, revealing that attendance at the relocated North Ryde service was down by 114 from those using the Gladesville service the corresponding period the year before.

Despite this downturn, demand for the Council-run vacation services has increased as a whole, with an extra 188 students utilising the services last summer.

To avoid a similar situation in the future, Council resolved to notify councillors of all decisions made relating to vacation care. A steering committee will be created to explore further vacation care options in the Ryde local government area.

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