PARENTS utilising before and after school care fear they will no longer be able to afford the service following news the Central West Out Of School Hours service is to be replaced by a Sydney-based provider after December 22.
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CWOOSH, operated by locals Tanya and Craig Gill, provides before and after school care for well over 100 children at Kelso and West Bathurst Public but has lost out to Gowrie Outside School Hours Care in a tender process.
Louise Press, a single mother who uses CWOOSH, said she was upset that a locally-based service appears to have been replaced by an out-of-towner.
She said she may now have to quit her job because she fears she won’t be able to pay the more expensive fees. She is also upset that the staff, who know the children well, have lost their jobs.
“These are people who have been working with our kids for years,” Ms Press said.
“They have got to know them and now the business is going to close and everyone who is employed by them is out of work.”
While CWOOSH takes students from schools across the city, when the new provider takes over Ms Press says only students from Kelso will be able to access the service as no transport will be provided.
“At the moment with CWOOSH, the service caters for kids from schools all across Bathurst,” she said.
“They have two smaller buses and a 41-seater so they can collect and drop off kids to and from school, which for parents is reassuring.”
But what Ms Press is worried most about is cost.
“The new providers are more expensive,” she said.
“I’m a single mum, I won’t be able to afford the extra. There is no other facility in Bathurst I can send my kids before school and in the afternoon.
“With the fees being more expensive, I’m going to have to give up work.
“I’m a single mum on a limited budget. We’re scraping our pennies together anyway just to get by.
“And there’s families at Bathurst Public, South Bathurst and Assumption, they all rely on it and now it’s gone.
“A lot of families rely on this service, but they (CWOOSH) have to be out by December 22. I don’t know what we are going to do.
“This service has been a godsend to a lot of parents but the most disheartening thing about this is CWOOSH is run by local people and now the education department is bringing in a Sydney-based company to have similar care but only for Kelso students.”
Ms Press wants the Education Department to reconsider its decision.
Owners of CWOOSH Craig and Tanya Gill who run the out of school care at both Kelso Public and West Bathurst Public said they were devastated to lose the tender.
Employing 20 people, Mr Gill said they tried to look at alternative sites but none were viable.
The Department did not comment on the situation.
