Kinder faces the unkindest cut of all

A DANDENONG kindergarten has said it will have to turn away kids because of new childcare reforms.
From 2013, the National Quality Framework will require every four-year-old to complete 15 hours of kindergarten each week, up from the current 10.75 hours.
Alice said her Dandenong preschool would have to end a four-year-old kinder group to accommodate the hours.
“We run three four-year-old groups and we would have to lose a group,” she said.
“It would mean we would have to turn away 25 children.”
Alice said the kinder would need to extend the session hours to make sure the children attend for the new increased hours.
As a result the kinder would not be able to hold three sessions.
“We’ll have to start earlier and finish later than we do now,” she said.
“It will make it a very long day.”
Linda, who works at a Noble Park kindergarten, said the extra hours would also place significant pressure on teachers.
“There will be extra pressure on staff by 2013 because the children will be staying for 15 hours,” she said.
“It is pressure on the teachers who will have less planning time.”
Alice agreed that teachers would have a heavier work load.
“There will be much more pressure and a lot more work with planning and transition reports,” she said.
“I pity the teachers that are just starting off.”
Greater Dandenong community services director Mark Doubleday said 23 kindergartens operate within the municipality and would respond to the changes to support the kindergartens.
“Council will be exploring all opportunities to respond to these changes to ensure it has minimum impact on these programs,” he said.
“Council is still exploring the impact on future enrolments and working closely with the community to maximise capacity and service quality.”
The guidelines, some of which come into effect next year, also change staff-to-child ratios, qualification requirements of staff and quality standards.