ST JAMES Lutheran community childcare will be closed next month and knocked down with the about 60-year-old building deemed too expensive to repair by its owners.
Congregation representative Mavis Bird said the closure would not affect the nearby kindergarten service, which is operated by Queensland Lutheran Early Childhood Services from a newer building at the Waterloo Street site.
Ms Bird said the congregation’s committee voted to close the 36-place centre after its nursery room was closed in September due to maintenance issues.
She said the building, a converted church built in the late 1950s, needed extensive repairs which the congregation could not afford.
The Cleveland service caters to infants from six weeks to five years and was last rated as “meeting” national standards by authorities.
Ms Bird said the childcare centre’s last day on Friday, December 22 would mark a sad end to a wonderful 46-year history.
“A long list of staff have (also) been employed over the 46 years the service has been operating and have brought their expertise and commitment to the service making it a much loved and respected facility in the community," she said.
“It is sad to be closing and it is with much regret.”
An 8am service on Sunday, December 10 has been organised for current and former parents, children and staff.
She said parents with enrolled children had been notified of the committee’s decision, with QLECS staff being assisted internally to find other work.
Congregation chairman Garry Hauser said the childcare centre’s playground, which sits on a 656 sq m block at John Street leased from Redland City Council, would be dismantled and the land given back.
The childcare centre will be knocked down to make way for a kindergarten playground, he said.
The kindergarten’s hours of operation will be extended after the childcare centre's closure, with doors to be opened from 7.30am to 5.30pm on school days.
