As St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School celebrated St Patrick’s Day – the luck of the Irish extended to the entire Griffith community, with $30,000 in funding announced to help the Griffith PCYC relocate and expand its after school care service.
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The funding announcement was made by NSW Minister for Early Childhood Education, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Assistant Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell and Murray MP Adrian Piccoli at an assembly held at the school in Griffith on Friday.
St Patrick’s was awarded the funding to establish a new out of school hours care program, to be operated by the PCYC, creating up to 40 new before and after school places for students.
It is fantastic news for the local PCYC, according to manager Chris McGregor.
“We are so excited, $30,000 is pretty hard to come by,” he said on Friday.
“This means we can bring some technology to our vacation care and also help with the upgrade of the play equipment.”
“It is an inclusive service and its not just for the St Pat’s kids, we have kids from everywhere – we are very proud to have been approved for this funding and very thankful to the state government.”
On the ground the announcement means more families in Griffith and surrounding area will be able to access before and after school care, according to Mr Piccoli.
“This funding is great news for busy families, who need the extra flexibility that before and after school care provides,” he said.
Making the announcement to teachers, students and parents gathered for the assembly Ms Mitchell was drowned out by an excited cheer.
"As a working parent, I understand how challenging it can be to juggle work and family commitments,” she told the jubilant crowd.
“Through this grant program, the NSW Government is helping young families to access the support they need.”
St Patricks principal Sandra Campbell said the move would be good for all schools in the area, praising the success of the local PCYC service.
“It has expanded exponentially, in the holidays they had 40 to 60 kids a day, it’s amazing,” she said.
“They put their hand up and said they wanted to relocate their service here and part of that money was for the relocation and expansion of after school care which includes not only our school but a heap of others as well.
