Out-of-school care in Fife has received a double boost with 960,000 in additional funding for new projects and for facilities such as outdoor play areas, play buses and toy libraries.
Fife Childcare Partnership is inviting local providers to parti-cipate in drawing up proposals for spending the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) money.
Yvonne Crombie, Fife childcare co-ordinator, said the funding would enable childcare in Fife to go from 'strength to strength'. She said, 'I am absolutely delighted with the announcement of this new money. In light of the recent funding review by the Scottish Executive, it places childcare and the Childcare Strategy central to enabling families to escape the poverty trap by alleviating the problems caused by the lack of high quality, affordable and accessible childcare in their area.
'This new money marks the start of another exciting time in childcare, and Fife Childcare Partnership looks forward to playing a pivotal role in further developing quality childcare in Fife.'
The clubs will be able to access additional support to help them provide quality care following the introduction of a Self-evaluation Support Scheme under the Fife Childcare Strategy this month. The scheme, facilitated by independent trainer Drew McCanney, will offer direct support to up to 30 clubs to help them set up self-evaluation schemes.
Ms Crombie said, 'Many of our out-of-school clubs were apprehensive about beginning self-evaluation.
'It's not something they did before, but now they are required to do this under the new National Care Standards. We hit on the idea of providing a support scheme to take a group of clubs through the self-evaluation process step by step to provide both support and build up confidence and to demystify the process for them.'
A self-evaluation workbook, priced 10, has been produced for use by providers. For information on upcoming Fife consultation events across Fife, being held on 8 November in St Andrews, 11 November in Glenrothes and 18 November in Dunfermline, or to obtain a copy of the workbook, call the Fife Childcare Partnership on 01592 774002.
l The Scottish Out of School Care Network (SOSCN) is offering its assistance to people who want to apply for New Opportunities Fund money following the extension of deadlines for the current out-of-school hours childcare programme (News, 31 October).
The Funding Facilitators Programme, run by the SOSCN and NOF, was launched this week to help providers across Scotland to create new childcare places and improve their services.
Childcare organisations are encouraged to submit applications for NOF funding in order to make the most of the available funding resources. The deadlines of 15 April 2003 and 15 June 2003 have been added to the original 15 February deadline for applications.
The team of five funding development officers can provide assistance and support to childcare partnerships, local networks and childcare services in the development of bids for NOF childcare programmes. The team can also provide general training in business development, marketing and business planning skills with the aim of producing greater sustainability in childcare services.
To contact the funding development team call 0141 331 1303 or e-mail magdaleneboyd@btconnect.com.
