Childcare centre aims to assist Cottonera families

The childcare centre at the Cospicua primary school should serve to support families in Cottonera but also address a situation which, two years ago, saw all pupils from the area who sat for the Junior Lyceum entrance examination failing.

This year, 50 per cent passed, an indication that a €100,000 project, which includes the opening of the childcare centre, was bearing fruit, according to the government.

Il-Bejta (the nest) was inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday, although it has been operating since May. It caters for a maximum of 25 children, most of those attending now coming from Cospicua, aged between three months and three years.

Run by the Foundation of Educational Services, the centre aims to make the children’s transition into kindergarten smoother, while supporting women to enter the working world, a government priority, Dr Gonzi highlighted.

The opening of the centre was considered to be a family-friendly measure. But although it was also aimed at helping women back into the workforce, it was not a parking lot for children and would be providing a nurturing environment, educating them from a young age.

Projects to address the area’s problems, which started to be implemented over the last couple of years, included the setting up of a nurture group to tackle emotional development, the introduction of classroom assistants and family support workers, who dealt with regular absenteeism.

The Cospicua childcare centre is the second of three to be opened this year: one in Siġġiewi has already been opened and another is scheduled to open in Pembroke in the coming months.

Cottonera was being targeted as the government believed in the area and its community’s potential, Dr Gonzi said.

Il-Bejta is open from 8 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. but the possibility of extending the hours is being studied.