Pittwater Council Annual Report - Pittwater Council - NSW ...

Section 2 - Statutory StatementsChildren’s Services - cont.In 2009, a trial of including Year 7 students in the Vacation Care program was undertaken. It wasestablished as a result of concern expressed by a number of families who had children starting high schoolin 2009. These families were particularly concerned at the idea of leaving their 12 and 13 year old childrenat home all day while they were working. The service operated over both the Easter break and the JulySchool Holidays and at this stage is working well.Council buildings are also provided at discounted rentals to 2 community based preschool schools:Elanora Heights and Narrabeen. A further preschool, KU Avalon, has a long term lease with Council for useof the building. These preschools cater for up to 120 children per day during school terms.Additionally, the Scotland Island Child Care Centre, a community based service, operates from a Councilowned building at a discounted rate. With significant assistance from Council to make changes to thebuilding, the community committee increased the days and hours of operation and developed a mother’sgroup/play group from the site. Scotland Island is an isolated community with a relatively high populationof young families. Access to the Island is only by boat and this leads to additional problems for families ofyoung children. Earlier in the year, a new Family Day Care provider was registered on the island and is nowproviding care for children from 0 – 5 years. This is the first time that any licensed care has been availablefor children under the age of 2 years on the island.Council has undertaken significant advertising to increase its Family Day Care Service. This home basedchild care service is of particular benefit to the younger children. As a result there has been an increase inregistered carers under the Pittwater Family Day Care license. The relocation of the FDC administration andplaygroups to the new Newport Community Centre has added significantly to the quality of the service. Thenew attached children’s playground, specifically designed for children under 5 years, is particularly valuedby the carers, other community based playgroups and families of young children who visit the park.The Early Childhood Health Centres (ECHC) in Avalon and Mona Vale continue to provide a hub forparents with young children. Both centres have been rebuilt in the past 7 years and from these NSW HealthDepartment delivers a health service for families with young children. Both Avalon and Mona Vale ECHCprovide a drop-in breast-feeding support service. During 2008- 2009 Council staff contacted new mother’sgroups at the ECH service at Avalon and provided support and advice.Specialist Library Services were provided for children, with library collections suitable for children aged0 to 17 years. Storytelling for pre-school children occurs three mornings each week during the schoolterm, including Book Babes for 0-2 years. New babies are presented with books on reading to children forparents and hard covered books for babies. The Children’s Librarian also operated a reading and writinggroup once per month for children in late primary school and arts and craft workshops and activities wereconducted. In July 2009, a children’s knitting group, “Knitty Gritty” was formed in conjunction with theKnitters Guild of NSW–Northern Group. Guild members are on hand to teach, guide and encourage childrento knit at no charge. This group meets fortnightly and caters for beginners to experienced knitters.Library staff liaised with local schools to organise activities with the library and regularly displayed art workfrom local high schools and primary schools. The HSC collection ontaining study guides, videos and otherinformation was available 7 days a week. The Mona Vale Library was also involved in “Inside Break”, acollaborative project between Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Councils. This included the provision of weblinks to HSC relevant support materials and a HSC lecture program of guest speakers on a range subjects.Between 2008-2009 Children in Pittwater were able to access a wide range of activities through Council’scommunity centres. Activities included kindergartens, playgroups, dance, ballet, drama, tennis, creativekindy, youth theatre, maths and English tuition, music, art, craft, social development programs, netball,soccer, martial arts, self defence programs, youth programs, physical culture, band rehearsals and danceparties. Local schools used the Community Centres for sports programs, rehearsals and performances.During school holidays a vast array of programs were available in these centres. These included tenniscamps, acting/drama programs, art and craft activities, self defence programs, performances, shows, artfestivals and workshops. The School Holiday Recreation Program is developed and published by Councileach school holiday and provides information on activities offered by other organisations. These includeholiday camps provided by Camp Kedron and the NSW Academy of Sport, plus surfing clinics, multi sportcamps, gymnastics among others.The Council’s Coastal Environment Centre offered both preschool and school aged children environmentalawareness programs throughout the year.The regional playgrounds at Winnererremy Bay at Bayview and Bilarong Reserve facilities in North Narrabeenwere used extensively during the week and on weekends. During the past year shade structures have beenerected in local parks in Sector 2 and Sector 12 of the Warriewood Valley Land Release. Development ofthe district park in Sector 8 of Warriewood Valley has progressed with plans for the park and the playgroundequipment approved for construction. During the year plans for the redevelopment of the playground inDunbar Park at Avalon were finalised and construction was completed early in 2009.The recently opened Newport Community Centre has been very popular for children’s birthday partiessince opening day, with the playground being a big drawcard.20