SURREY: The provincial government has informed that there are 294 new licensed school-aged child care spaces operating at nine Surrey elementary schools (School District 36) and spaces are still available.
The Surrey School District received approximately $186,000 through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund to help create the child care on school grounds.
“I am happy hundreds of Surrey children will have child care on school grounds, making life easier for busy parents and giving them the peace of mind of knowing their kids are in one place for the day, with one dropoff and pickup location,” said Grace Lore, Minister of State for Child Care. “By working with school districts, we’re building a future where affordable, quality, inclusive child care is a core service families can rely on through ChildCareBC.”
“Schools are the heart of their communities and investments like child care on school grounds help to support families,” said Rachna Singh, Minister of Education and Child Care.
Since 2018, the Province informed that it has provided funding to create 2,842 new licensed child care spaces in Surrey. In 2022-23, a new ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund provincial funding stream was introduced to support the creation of new, licensed, school-aged care on school grounds.
These funds are available for school districts, First Nations schools, First Nations independent schools and not-for-profit independent schools to ensure child care spaces are built where they are needed most.
Parents with children at licensed facilities for school-aged children will save as much as $145 a month on their child care fees from the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative in September 2023 when the fee reductions expand.
“As a working parent, having access to before- and after-school care at my child’s school is invaluable. My child has a great time in the program and is in an environment that they trust and feel safe in,” said Supneet Kaur Chawla, parent. “We need more investments like this in our community and I’d like to thank the provincial government for investing in our school and ensuring families in our community have access to child care.”
Parents/guardians interested in registering their child can go to online: https://onehsn.com/ymcagv/ux_2_0
