As of: March 23, 2024, 5:04 p.m
By: Sandra Sedlmaier
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Handover on Friday: The containers at the children's home in Aufkirchen on Marienstrasse are ready for occupancy.
The people who were delighted at the handover (from left) were Alexandra Schwehr (childcare worker), Ayescha Jörns (board member of the Montessori association), Britta Jordan (children's home management), Johannes Voit (construction management), Andrea Reichler (management of the municipality of Berg) and mayor Rupert Steigenberger.
© Dagmar Rutt
The containers for the crèche at the Aufkirchen Montessori Children's Home are finally ready, but the daycare center will not open for the time being - there is a lack of a specialist.
Overall, however, the care situation in Berg has improved significantly, even without the new crèche.
Aufkirchen
– More space for child care again: The municipality of Berg has handed over the container to the Aufkirchen Montessori Association in which a crèche group is cared for.
Twelve children under the age of three will be accommodated there.
Only: At the moment, the Montessori children's home lacks a management, as the managing director of the municipality of Berg, Andrea Reichler, confirms.
Otherwise, there is enough staff, but due to a lack of skilled workers, the daycare center cannot open.
However, that's not so bad at the moment, because at the start of the kindergarten year in autumn there are signs of a significant relaxation in the number of childcare places.
“We were able to accommodate all the children from Berg,” says Reichler.
“That makes it a lot easier for us.” Even if not every family could be provided with the daycare center they wanted.
According to the town hall, 92 children were registered for the crèche, 60 of which were from Berg and seven of them were too small for the crèche, as Reichler says.
The 51 Berger children who are suitable for the crèche are accommodated.
It's similar in kindergarten.
The Aufkirchner kindergarten St. Maria will reopen its third group, reports Reichler.
This is also why it was possible to fulfill the 51 wishes for a childcare place from Berger kindergarten children.
Here, too, there were inquiries from outside.
“Nine non-local people registered and we had to turn them down,” explains the managing director.
The operator “KinderArt” was also able to resolve its personnel shortages in the after-school care center.
The result: 42 parents from the community who need an afternoon care place for their school child can count on a place in the fall.
The community had to reject a request from an out-of-town parent, said Reichler.
“Mitti”, the supervised lunch table at the Aufkirchner school run by a parents’ initiative, which was the last resort for many parents last year thanks to its quick and unbureaucratic response to strong demand, is taking in 15 new children.
The municipality of Berg is currently free of its worries when it comes to childcare - but only for the moment.
The difficult situation on the personnel market for educators and kindergarten teachers allows for no prediction and requires a lot of improvisation and patience from daycare center operators, the community and parents.
During the year, a kindergarten group in the Montessori children's home at Gut Biberkor had to close due to a lack of employees.
“The gap has now been closed,” reports Reichler.
This has not yet been successful in the Montessori children's home in Aufkirchen.
Reichler hopes things will look different by fall, when the kindergarten year begins.
“If the staff is there, Montessori can start straight away.”
The municipality of Berg has invested around half a million euros in the new containers.
The costs include equipment for small children, a kitchen and the design of the outdoor areas.
This container daycare center should actually be finished much earlier.
Because the building yard was required to work on the construction site for the new town hall, a new planner had to get an overview, some trades started late and winter intervened, the whole thing was delayed, says Reichler.
There will probably be even more crèche places in the fall, so that the waiting list of children from other communities could also be served.
In Farchach, a so-called mini-daycare center is opening a daycare center for twelve children, explains Reichler.
As reported, the community has purchased a house that can serve as a crèche.
Another crèche group could be set up in the “Adventure House”, the daycare center that “KinderArt” runs right next to the town hall in Berg.
And the company crèche at Reiser in Mörlbach could also be operational by the end of this year.