Gwydir Day Care and Preschool – A Message From The Mayor

The purpose of this message is to provide an update with regard to Gwydir Day Care and its current operations. Firstly, let me apologise for the significant inconvenience and disruption the operations have caused local families. As an employer of parents impacted by the disruption I understand the complications the day-to-day uncertainty causes, not only for those families directly impacted but also for the business they work in.

Presently as parents would be aware our greatest challenge is to resource the centre at appropriate levels. Our present staff levels limit the ability to operate the Centre at full capacity. When these numbers are then impacted by staff leave particularly sick leave which is mainly unplanned our only option is to close the Centre when we are unable to meet the statutory ratios. This issue has been further complicated by the departure of the Centre’s director.

We presently have an application with the Department of Education to allow some flexibility around the staffing requirements to allow the Centre to continue to operate whilst we are in this recruitment phase. Whilst we are yet to receive the outcome of the application the Department has verbally confirmed we are able to operate under the current staffing arrangements until we get their formal decision. We have also engaged the assistance of Mr Adam Marshall who has discussed this matter with the Minister for Education.

In terms of the recruitment process, our General Manager Nick Tobin and his team are aggressively pursuing additional team members. This process has included all the usual social media platforms, temp placement firms and directly contacting potential candidates. We are also reviewing the current employment package offerings and arrangements to see how these may be restructured to make the Centre a more attractive employment option.

We are also working with other local organisations in this service space to make sure we are considering all options to ease these resourcing pressures.

As I have said many times Gwydir Day Care is a very important and essential component of our Council. We are committed to ensuring its operational success. This financial year will see an external review conducted to assist Council set the Centre up for success well into the future.

Presently however those operations are less than satisfactory, and we recognise the inconvenience and frustration this is causing local families. We recognise also at times that communication could have been better and Nick and his team are very much aware of this, and steps have been taken to improve this process.

Finally, can I also make mention of the staff at the Centre who are working hard under at times difficult conditions, I thank them for their efforts.

I also thank our parent community and ask for your ongoing patience as we work through these current issues.

Mayor, Mark Johnson