Early Years Review - Caithness

ISSUE DATE: TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2006

EARLY YEARS REVIEW – CAITHNESS

Members of The Highland Council’s Caithness Area Committee met on Monday with officials and voluntary sector partners to look at the vision for early years services in the County.

They considered the local concerns from some communities about the possible loss of local pre-school provision. Against a backdrop of falling school rolls, but with some good news about likely housing developments in a number of villages, they examined the mapping exercises that have been completed to date.

Elected members recognised the need to ensure appropriate provision of a sustainable and quality standard for children in Caithness, that parents could have confidence in, into the future. This included finding means to address challenges posed by staff recruitment, new regulatory demands and management support for voluntary sector groups. It was recognised that there is some duplication of provision, and the possibility for consolidation - with local support.

Elected members asked Area Education manager, Graham Nichols, to provide a detailed report to their February Area Committee, and to conduct further local consultation prior to nursery enrolment in March.

Caithness Children's Champion, Councillor Bill Fernie said: "This is about improving services, and ensuring that they are viable into the longer term. We face a number of challenges at a time of falling nursery populations, but we recognise the need to make sure our Caithness communities remain family-friendly. We have some ideas that we wish to discuss with local parents, about how we can jointly make sure we sustain services that are at the heart of community life."