Gumnut closure: Parents may be forced to quit work

Michelle Cooney and her husband both work full-time. Michelle as a special needs teacher for the education department and her husband, who is unable to be named, as a police officer. 

“We are now faced with the very real situation of one of us having to quit our jobs as we are not able to find full-time placement for both of our children Eli, aged 4, and Summer, aged 3, in any long daycare centres in the area,” Mrs Cooney said.

“We love our jobs and one of the reasons we moved from Sydney was so that we did not have the pressure of childcare wait lists and the uncertainty that brings with regards to our employment.”

News the popular preschool would close its doors in December was a bitter pill for families of 80 small children and 15 redundant staff.

“So herein lies the situation that a lot of Gumnut parents are now in: The closure of Gumnut and the lack of any positive progress towards it remaining open for next year has placed extra strain on other local daycare centres who already have huge wait lists for 2018,” Mrs Cooney said.

“We have had both of our children's names down at several centres and have been on wait lists for over a year, yet no centres are able to provide us with any guarantee of full-time placements for next year. We may be able to get a day here or there for one or both children but this is not an ideal situation for our children and the logistics of taking two children to two different places on only a few days a week is extremely impractical  and not viable with our work hours.

“We chose Gumnut for our children because it is an outstanding child care centre, with committed and experienced staff who provide incredible learning experiences for our children. Our son has thrived since being at Gumnut and we are devastated that this outstanding centre is closing,” she said.

At a meeting between parents and representatives of the Anglican Schools Corporation on Monday, August 21 a decision was made to proceed with an application to subdivide the land on which Gumnut sits from the main school site.

“The Anglican Schools Corporation have spoken with (Shoalhaven City) Council and gained positive feedback about the possibility of subdividing Gumnut from the main school site, and have therefore appointed consultants to proceed with the application,” parent representative Calvin Rogers said, on Monday, August 28.

“The first step in this process is to have Gumnut subdivided. The second step is to then consider who may be able to purchase and run the centre – this could be a government body or a private body,” he said.

Mrs Cooney said Mr Rogers had been working with the Anglican Schools Corporation to push the subdivision and sale of Gumnut as a separate title to the former Shoalhaven Anglican School site. 

 “I believe that the DA is close to being submitted but that is what we thought several weeks ago and still there has been no movement there,” she said.

In the meantime, Mrs Cooney is unable to secure suitable alternative care arrangements for her children.

“Summer our youngest was due to start at Gumnut next month with her big brother and indeed we had been preparing her for this,” she said. 

“We were to have both of our children placed in full-time, five days a week care at Gumnut and now we are not even sure either of them will have a place anywhere next year, let alone together.

“Our hope is the community can get behind Gumnut, that we may see some positive results from the DA application and from the Anglican Schools Corporation. And common sense from council to see the need there is in an ever-growing community.”