Pre-school top-up fees decision ‘by end of year’
A DECISION will be taken by Education by the end of the year as to whether to continue with the current pre-school entitlement scheme or allow the introduction of a top-up system.
A scheduled meeting between the island’s pre-school providers was brought forward urgently following this news, as the committee reached out to the community for feedback.
It was held amid concerns that a free entitlement scheme has left some ‘unable to make ends meet’.
Introduced at the start of the year, the scheme provides 15 hours of free pre-school provision to children, with the schools being paid a subsidy of £5.90 an hour.
Caroline Blondel, vice-chair of the Guernsey Pre-school Learning Association and owner of Monkey Puzzle, said having 15 hours of free pre-school provision was a plus for many in the industry. But for others the lack of top-ups – the ability to charge an additional fee on top of the subsidy – has had a detrimental impact.
'We lost a couple of pre-schools at the start [Blanchelande and Happy Days] as it was not viable for them to continue, while the colleges also pulled out. The main stumbling point has been that every provider has a different cost base and one size does not fit all.'
