Hospital FRC are very sad to confirm that we are closing our My-Time After-Schools Childcare Service. We opened this service in 2006 and since that time have been honoured to care for so many children coming through our doors. We owe huge thanks to our dedicated team of staff and volunteers and to all of the parents who supported us. And a special thanks to each and every one of the boys and girls we have had the pleasure of getting to know.
As a board this is not a decision we have made lightly but has been an area of ongoing concern since 2019 and before. The last few years have been a struggle for us as we strove to keep the service running with a funding deficit. The current system fails to understand the needs of many of the families we support and of staffing obligations. We made representations in early 2019 that we feared for the survival of our service. We unfortunately now find ourselves in a position where we simply cannot afford to reopen in September.
We appreciate the measures made to support childcare during the COVID 19 crisis, however it is the longer term sustainability of our service under the current schemes which has forced this decision. Our priority is ensuring we fulfill our duty of care to our staff and children.
We hope that in the future funding will be introduced that will allow us to again provide a high quality childcare service in our area. We are willing and open to working with all parties in looking at schemes to support services such as our own and to ensure there is a future for voluntary managed, not for profit, stand alone community after school childcare services.
We will continue to provide supports and activities for primary school aged children and families and will be seeking funding to support us to do this into the future.
Thank you again for your support.