Scotland’s Minister for Children and Young People Maree Todd, visited Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus today (Wednesday 5 February) to endorse the college as a key provider of childcare graduates.
FVC Principal Dr Ken Thomson, Hannah Ritchie Director of Curriculum and Jeanette McCulloch Operations Manager from the Department of Care, Sport and Construction, welcomed the Minister who recently launched a nationwide public information campaign to encourage families to enrol their children for funded early learning and childcare, ahead of a major expansion this summer.
The Minister visited the simulated nursery and held a question and answer session with around 70 students made up from HNC Childhood Practice and NC Early Education
Also attending were Laura McCallum, Early Years Support Officer at Stirling Council, Wendy MacKay, Assistant Education Development Officer at Clackmannanshire Council and Susan McElhatton, Curriculum Support Officer Early Years at Falkirk Council.
Maree Todd, Scotland’s Minister for Children and Young People, said: “It was my pleasure to meet young people joining the Early Learning and Childcare sector and hearing about their hopes and expectations as they build their knowledge, experience and skills at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus.
“The views of the students will help us to shape the sector as we move in to the final stages of implementing the most generous early learning and childcare offer in the UK.”
From August, all three and four-year-olds, and around a quarter of two-year-olds in Scotland, will benefit from 1,140 hours of childcare a year - the most generous offer in the UK.
Parents or carers can register through their local authority and apply for the option that suits their needs, from the choices available locally - whether a local authority, private or third sector nursery, playgroup or childminder.
As a result the FVC early learning and childcare curriculum portfolio has increased over the last three academic years to reflect the priority of delivering the HNC Childhood Practice, with an overall target to recruit 180 HNC students being met in 2018/19 and maintained in 2019/20.
This increase has been designed to support local employer workforce requirements in preparation for the increase in entitlement to early learning and childcare funded places from 600 hours to 1140 hours. Across Scotland over 8,200 additional staff are required and within the Forth Valley area there is a requirement for several hundred additional staff.
Principal Dr Ken Thomson, said: “It was a great pleasure to welcome the Minister to our new Falkirk Campus and to introduce her to some of our very enthusiastic Childhood Practice students. We are delighted to have the support of the Minister and the Scottish Government as an important childcare graduate provider, at a time when local employers within the sector are looking to hire several hundred qualified childcare providers in the near future.
“I am very proud of the efforts of Hannah Ritchie and Jeanette McCulloch and their staff who have done a fabulous job to meet their increased student place targets, and put Forth Valley College in the driving seat to meet the needs of the childcare industry in the coming years.”
