Beloved Churchill childcare centre Little World for Scholars reopens its doors after flood closure
Little World for Scholars reopened in Churchill today after the community rallied to support the childcare centre through its flood closure. SEE THE PHOTOS
Ipswich
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The Little World for Scholars childcare centre celebrated its reopening this morning after the floods forced the beloved centre to close earlier this year.
Centre manager Tash Opdam recounted how the water levels rose above the centre’s windowsills in late February and the damage devastated the building.
Ms Opdam said almost all the furniture was destroyed and their carpark was filled with debris.
“The whole centre was gutted,” she recounted.
Ms Opdam said she was grateful for the support they received from the community at the time.
“We put a Facebook post out to get people to come and help us because it was literally just mud,” she said.
“I really want to say thank you to everyone that did come along and help that day.”
The rebuilding process started shortly after, and Ms Opdam said they didn’t realise it would be such a long process.
“We’re not part of a big major company … so it’s been tough,” she explained.
The building required major repairs, and there’s now little of the original building still standing.
“It was pretty much back to a frame – timber frame; there was nothing,” said Ms Opdam.
The centre continued to receive support from the community while they were closed, raising over $2.5k in donations on their Go Fund Me page.
They also received resource donations from the Ipswich Show Society and the Immaculate Heart Primary School.
“The whole school community did a book drive for us and they pretty much had six, seven washing baskets full of books for us — so that’s enough for us to resource out our whole centre,” said Ms Opdam.
Four months after closing their doors, they were finally able to start setting up for the opening last Thursday.
Ms Opdam said the past five days have been a frantic effort to get all the new furniture and resources in, but they are now excited to welcome new and old faces to the centre.
“We’ve had some parents that have kept their children at home and have been waiting for this moment, so they’re very excited that we’ve been able to come back,” she said.
“We have very loyal families and we appreciate that a lot.”
Ms Opdam said they did currently have openings as many families were forced to find childcare alternatives while they were closed.
“We’ve probably come back with 50 per cent of our families … Being closed for so long, it’s totally understandable.”
The new centre is outfitted with new learning rooms, furniture, and outdoor play areas, with more minor upgrades still to come.
There were big smiles all around this morning as the staff, parents, and children were able to enjoy the new facilities and celebrate their tireless efforts to reopen.
See our gallery of all the photos taken below.
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Originally published as Beloved Churchill childcare centre Little World for Scholars reopens its doors after flood closure
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