Green light for Skylar Early Learning provides much-needed relief for Mt Barker families in need of child care

Help is on the way for Mt Barker parents after the final approvals were granted for a new 24-place childcare centre to open in mid-January. Skylar Early Learning passed its final inspection in recent weeks, paving the way for it to open next month at the Mt Barker Community Resource Centre. Skylar director Jo Talmage said the centre had been a long time coming after originally setting her sights on converting the town’s former Westpac Bank last year. “It’s been a year or two or even more that we have been trying to get something up and running,” she said. “It’s been a really long process, but sometimes things that are worth it take a while as we go down different paths and this one is going to end up being so good.” She said demand in Mt Barker continued at a high level and the town’s only childcare centre, Plantagenet Early Learning and Development Centre, had an “extensive waiting list”. “I’ve had a couple of meetings with them to talk about how we can support the community together,” she said. “Families that can’t get in there will be happily passed on to us.” Ms Talmage also operates Ragamuffins Childcare Centre in Albany and she said families at Skylar could expect the same high standard of service in Mt Barker. “We really want to strive to be the best early learning workplace in the Great Southern,” she said. A small team of early educators are already lined up waiting for the centre to officially start operating, but Ms Talmage said she was looking to hire more over the coming months now that the final approval for the centre had been granted. The centre will officially open on January 15, with orientation sessions for parents and children the week before. “We’ve done a very soft expression of interest callout to this point, but now we can announce we’ve got the final approvals through and we can start the process for families wanting to register their interest,” Ms Talmage.