NSW Government grant sends Poet’s “over the moon”

Poet’s Corner Preschool, set among high-rise Department of Housing buildings, has provided an essential and affordable child centred service to children and their families in Redfern-Waterloo for 30 years. The staff of the preschool work hard to empower families and struggling parents; it is a project of The Factory Community Centre.

Poet’s Corner Preschool has 22 children, representing 15 different cultures, 7 of whom are ESL children: German, Russian, and Chinese. Naomi Ward, the Director, informed us that, “they all speak their languages at once and yet still seem to understand each other”.

Ms Ward was extremely delighted to receive the cheque from the Minister for Community Services, Reba Meagher. She said they were all “over the moon” when they heard about the grant.

On being handed the cheque from the Minister, Ms Ward said that, “it is wonderful to receive this money, as we can now have a kitchen, much needed new bathrooms for the children, and a staff room and new play areas.” Apparently, all this work is essential to fulfil Dept of Community Services regulations.

The money came from the NSW Government’s $85.2 million Preschool Investment Plan. “The NSW Government’s $85.2 million investment will create preschool places for an additional 10,500 children,”

Ms Meagher said. “Around $8 million will be made available to around 300 preschools across the State by the end of this month – helping services which are under immediate financial pressure,” she said.

Kristina Kenneally had been involved in a community campaign for funding for schools like Poet’s Corner. Ms Kenneally said that, “the NSW Government was committed to community based schools because they are responsive to local community needs and [that] parents have the ability to have input in running the schools.”

She believed that Poet’s Corner is evidence of this responsiveness to the community and the involvement of local parents.

Patrick Russell, Co-ordinator of The Factory Community Centre informed me later that the search for funding by community groups to provide essential services for low-income families in the area required a great deal of time and cross-party support and co-operation.

He said that while they did not apply for this actual money, they had been involved in three years of lobbying for support and funding, with letters, phone calls and representations. He was grateful for Ms Kenneally’s community campaign for local preschools, and added that Clover Moore had represented The Factory at various levels over the last few years for funding for the upgrading of this preschool.

[South Sydney Herald July 2006]