Due to the growing need for pre-school-aged child care, the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board is taking steps to close the gap.
The school board submitted an application for $4.5 million to the Ministry of Education’s Early Years Capital Project which opened in mid-December and offers funding specifically for child care centres.
Currently there are three HPEDSB pre-school-aged child care programs with the The Hub at Massassaga-Rednersville School, the Stirling Co-operative Nursery “Little Sprouts” at Stirling Public School and the Quinte Child Care Centre at Park Dale School which combine for 135 spaces.
The proposal plans for three new centres located at York River Public School, Prince Charles Trenton and Centre Hastings Secondary, all to be opened by 2023 and all to provide 49 child care spaces each and costing approximately $4.5 million.
The proposal would involve the renovation of available interior space at York River and Prince Charles and for an addition to be built on the current Centre Hasting School in place of an existing child care location between Madoc Public School and Centre Hastings Secondary.
Early Years System Lead Rob McFadden explained the importance of closing the gap on child care.
“For Hastings County in particular, increasing child care is a strategic priority. The statistics show that in Hastings County only 15% of children 0 to 12 have access to licensed child care spaces in comparison to about 22% provincially,”
The applications closed in mid-January and the Ministry will need to review and process applications before granting approval. If approved, the school board will begin consultation.
