Primary school children living in Little River could lose access to an out-of-hours care program because the town is classified as being part of a major city.
Little River Primary School has been told that federal government funding for its out-of-hours care program will cease early next year because 2011 census data showed the town was in a major city.
The town, on the outskirts of Wyndham, is a 15 to 20-minute drive from Werribee’s CBD and has a population of less than 1400 people. It has one shop, no public bus service, unsealed roads and no natural gas or sewerage. Only half its properties have town water.
The town has previously been classified as ‘inner regional’, allowing the school to access funding for its out-of-hours care program.
School council president Gillian Caldwell said 39 of the school’s 77 families used the before and after-school service.
She said without the funding, the school would probably have to close the program, leaving 57 children without care.
“Without the funding, we won’t have a viable program,” she said.
“We don’t have formal childcare in Little River, other than the school program.
‘‘If children were forced to walk home to an empty house, on one side of Little River children would need to cross a narrow bluestone bridge with no room for pedestrians and only enough room for two cars. On another side they would need to cross an unmanned railway line.’’
Ms Caldwell said if Little River was to lose out-of-hours care, about a third of the school’s families could be forced to leave.
‘‘It would be crippling for Little River Primary School and its wider community,” she said.
In a letter to the school, the federal Education Department said it had used census data to review all childcare services receiving community support program funding,
It found Little River Primary School was no longer eligible under the funding guidelines.
The department said it understood that an immediate withdrawal would impact on forward planning and, as such, funding would continue until early February.
