Cuts to early years funding leave Tyrone playgroups ‘devastated’

Fresh cuts to funding for early years education and learning services across Tyrone could leave some towns and villages without having any reception or playgroup facilities, it has emerged.

The Pathway Fund, set up to boost the development of children from ages 0-4, is set to come to an end at the end of June, with around 10,000 youngsters across the North losing access to vital support in their pre-school years.

One of the local towns that will be affected is Newtownstewart, where the Carebears Community Playgroup is the only organization in the town offering reception and playgroup facilities.

Carebears uses money from The Pathway Fund to pay staff. It also means the group can stay open for an extra half hour.

But Stephanie McColgan, who is leader of the group, told the Tyrone Herald they would have to make some staff redundant due to the cuts.

She warned that this would include a member of staff who is trained to support children with learning difficulties.

Stephanie said, “We were absolutely devastated to learn that we would lose this funding. The Pathway Fund is a major contributor of funding for the group which we use to pay staff. The loss of money means we will be forced to lose three members of staff in June. This will include an SEN-trained assistant who looks after children with learning difficulties.

“Our facility will remain open but we will have to cut a half hour off our closing time. We will now only stay open from 9am to 11.30am as the Pathway Fund paid for the extra half an hour.

“These cuts will have a massive knock-on effect on the whole education service. It will also be disadvantaged areas that will be worst affected as this fund was meant to help children in areas where people had less money.”

Principal of St Patrick’s Primary School, in Newtownstewart, Peter Torney said that Carebears did an excellent job preparing children for school and that good nursery and reception facilities were essential for early years education.

Mr Torney said, “Carebears do an excellent job in preparing our future pupils for their time at our school. The invaluable work done by the staff of Carebears means that we can go ahead and start our pupils’ education straight away, safe in the knowledge that our pupils already know what the school environment is like. These funding cuts will undoubtedly create a knock-on effect that will impact the whole education system. Good early years education services are essential for a child’s development.”

The principal added, “I would ask the government how educational institutions are to function with these constant cuts and removal of services? The education system can not take any more funding losses or the quality of the children of Northern Ireland will suffer.”