Wyong: Plans for Young Parent School and Daycare centre
Teen mums will be able to finish their HSC after giving birth, while their bubs are cared for in the next room, under plans for a first of its kind purpose-built centre for the NSW coast.
Central Coast
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Plans have been lodged for the first purpose-built young parent school and daycare centre on the coast, where teen mums can finish their HSC while their bubs are looked after in the next room.
It comes as another massive, $7.6m childcare only facility is proposed for the other end of the coast.
St Phillip’s Christian College (SPCC) has lodged plans for a $4.56m new build at 43 Howarth St, Wyong, directly across the road from the train station.
Under the plans an old 1970s single storey brick building will be knocked down and replaced with a modern, spacious two-storey building catering to 30 full time equivalent students, 32 children and 18 staff.
The ground floor will house the childcare centre with two outdoor spaces, two large inside spaces, bathrooms, laundry, three cot rooms, an entrance with a reception area, and an associated workroom and directors office.
The outdoor play spaces provide a number of play surfaces including rubber soft fall, artificial turf and grass, and will be lined with feature trees and screen planting to provide shade.
Upstairs will host the school with three general classrooms, six seminar/meeting rooms, a staffroom, bathrooms and two balconies.
The proposal includes a 17-space car park at the front along with landscaping throughout to “activate communal spaces, provide a stimulating outdoor environment for children, and integrate the proposed development within the existing landscape”, according to the development application (DA).
“SPCC’s Young Parents College is a school that aims to ensure that young parents and their children are provided with the best opportunities through a safe and nurturing learning environment for both child and parent,” the DA states.
“This is achieved by offering a full HSC program (including VET options) for pregnant and
parenting teens as their children engage in onsite early learning through the Narnia Young Parents Early Learning program.”
According to NSW Health data, the number of teen pregnancies is falling on the coast from a high of 101 babies born in 2018 across the Local Health District to 70 born in 2022.
This is in line with a statewide decline, however, the coast remains over represented for teenage mums with the region accounting for two per cent of all babies born to woman in NSW aged under 19.
This compares to Sydney, which accounts for just 0.3 per cent of teen mums and Western Sydney that accounts of 0.9 per cent.
And while a baby can be a speed bump for women in the workforce, when it comes to students, a bun in the oven can derail an academic career forever.
SPCC communications manager Hannah Wellham said in their experience the overwhelming majority of pregnant teens never return to school after giving birth.
“There’s just too many barriers,” she said.
Ms Wellham said besides the impracticality of trying to maintain breastfeeding, most teen mums simply can’t take a baby with them to school or afford to put them in daycare.
And then there’s the emotional side and the stigma attached to teen pregnancy.
This proposal allows them to do both.
“A lot of these students are the first in their families to finish school,” she said.
“So we’re breaking that cycle of disadvantage.”
SPCC founding principal Graeme Irwin recognised this need 20 years ago and established pilot programs in schools for young mums in 2000.
The success of these programs has led to two stand-alone “colleges” in rented digs at Newcastle and North Wyong, which graduate on average about 10 students combined a year.
Ms Wellham said this first of its kind, purpose-built facility would enable SPCC to significantly increase its enrolments — which are at no cost to the student — as well as connect them to other services.
The proposal remains with Central Coast Council for determination.
Meanwhile plans have also been lodged for a $7.6m, 113-place childcare centre on Serpentine Rd, Terrigal, next to Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church.
Currently there is a modest two-storey house on the sprawling 1.7ha block which would be bulldozed to make way for a large single-storey building featuring five indoor rooms catering for different aged children along with outdoor spaces.
Because of its size and estimated cost the proposal will go before the Hunter Central Coast Regional Planning Panel for determination.
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