Issue - meetings

The committee to consider proposals to cease direct delivery of Council-subsidised after school and holiday childcare.

.

The Committee received a deputation from a group of parents from Hornsey Ridge School who wanted to speak against the transfer of the after school provision at their school to St Aidens . This transfer of provision was  a consequence  of the Council’s curtailment of funding to  borough wide after school provision. The spokes person for the group was  Gwen O’Garrow  who reported to the Committee the exceptional current facilities provided to children at Hornsey Ridge school which were to a very high standard. On behalf of the deputation, Gwen O’ Garrow expressed concern about the facilities on offer at St Aiden’s which she felt were not on par with the current facilities at Hornsey Ridge school.  She proposed that the school should be given the opportunity to try and increase the numbers of children attending the after school club to make the service more financially viable.  The Committee heard that as part of the consultation, parents had not been given the option of considering an increase to the fees for this provision. This  may have been acceptable to them given the value and necessity of the service. The deputation called on the Committee to reconsider the recommendations of the report which were to reduce Council employed staff providing after school childcare and consider their duties as an authority to provide childcare for parents and in turn allow them to work or access education. The deputation further asked the Committee to consider the need for this service by the community in Hornsey and thanked the Committee for listening to their views.

The Committee welcomed the deputation and enquired about the activity previously undertaken to address the declining numbers of children attending this after school provision. At this point, in the meeting,  Cllr Wilson also declared a personal interest in his subject by virtue of his school governor position at the neighbouring school, Weston Park. Members of the deputation explained that there was little effective advertisement of the after school provision provided by Hornsey Ridge school. Following research, by the parents,  there was found to be no information on government websites or local websites on this after school provision .Parents at the nearby schools of Rokesly and Weston Park had been spoken to and they showed little knowledge of the existence of this provision which further highlighted the need for effective advertising of this school service.  The deputation believed that the opportunity should be given for this  as this would impact on the number  of children attending this provision. The Committee noted that the concept of improved PR had been suggested in the consultation period by the parents and sought further understanding of the number of children attending the after school provision. This was reported to be seventeen with children aged four and upwards.

The Deputy Director of the Children’s Service  was asked to introduce the report which contained proposals to curtail the Council’s direct delivery and subsidy of after school childcare and to which the deputation spoke in relation to.It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 131