Posted on: Wednesday 8 July 2020
Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are today announcing support for vulnerable children and some key worker children that will be put in place for the summer holiday period.
With playscheme and other youth and sport activities not able to run over the summer period, from Monday 20 July, and 5 weeks up to Friday 21 August, we will be able to offer support for the following groups across 7 locations in Torfaen.
- 100 vulnerable children per day
- 130 primary and secondary age key worker children per day, for parents and carers who used one of our hubs before 10 June 2020 and have no alternative childcare to call on.
Parents and carers who are potentially eligible have already been identified and will be contacted from today. They will not need to contact the council and will be provided with all of the details they need to access the provision. Those contacted about the key worker support will also be asked to choose 3 out of the 5 weeks for support.
Commenting today, Torfaen Executive Member for Education, Councillor Richard Clark, said: ‘Recent announcements by the First Minister about extended support bubbles and lifting of the travel restrictions should open up opportunities for parents to source childcare with extended family/friends which did not exist before. We know however that some families, and particularly those with vulnerable children, will still struggle and we want to do as much as we can to help them.’
Dermot McChrystal, Chief Officer for Education and Lead Director for Children & Young People, said: ‘We are going to stretch the resources we have available to us over the summer as far as we can, and whilst we know that we won’t be able to help everybody I am confident that the provision we can make will be welcomed by those who would otherwise struggle.’