The chairperson of Tempo Community Preschool has highlighted the negative impact that the ending of The Pathway Fund will have on young children, particularly ‘the Covid generation’.

The Pathway Fund was one of the Department of Education’s supports for the Early Years sector which aims to improve the development of children at risk of not reaching their full educational potential, and to create an enhanced, more sustainable Early Years sector.

However, it was recently announced that the fund is set to cease at the end of June.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, mother-of-three Natasha Dane, Chairperson of Tempo Community Preschool, explained how the cessation of the fund will mean that certain programmes for young children can no longer be subsidised.

“The cost of them will increase for parents, things like summer schemes or our pre [pre-school] offering,” said Natasha, adding: “We also at the minute are able to pay for a staff member to do one-to-one work with children ... who just need a little bit of extra help, generally the ones who are younger in the year, who need a bit of extra help with their speech, a bit of extra confidence.”

She noted that with the cessation of the Pathway Fund, the playgroup will not have the funding to be able to have a staff member that’s totally dedicated to that area any more.

“So that’s going to be a big loss, especially for the children who are coming through now, who are the ones that were born during Covid-19.”

Talking about the particular impact of this funding cut on this ‘Covid generation’ of children, Natasha outlined: “They haven’t necessarily had the toddler groups and socialisation that older children would have had.

“It’s back to the whole knock-on effects of the pandemic. This is a generation that’s going to be missing out on so much, not just because of what’s happening with Covid, but because now we don’t have a sitting government to be able to sign off on a budget to be able to provide the funding,” she added.

As a parent, Natasha currently has one daughter in Tempo Community Preschool and another daughter who was in the playgroup last year.

“Both of them have had access to this fund, and they’ve both been able to benefit from it. The one that’s in pre-school at the minute, she’s one of the younger ones in the year, and she’s only just turned four there last month.

“She would have needed a little bit of help with her speech,” said Natasha, noting that her daughter was able to receive the extra help she needed thanks to the support she got through the Pathway Fund.

“Whereas my son, he’s not due to go to the playgroup until September, 2024, and we don’t know if he’s going to have access to any of those sorts of things at all.”

Audrey Rainey, Director of Services for Early Years, a non-profit organisation for young children that is getting behind the fight to save the Pathway Fund, previously told this newspaper: “A decision to cease funding will have a devastating impact on 187 projects across Northern Ireland, and impact more than 10,000 children, families and have a wider impact on the local community.

“We would call upon the Department of Education to review this decision carefully as the cessation of these services will be devastating for the most vulnerable in our communities.”

This newspaper previously spoke to representatives of Newtownbutler Playgroup – Railway Kids, which is another Early Years provider that will be impacted by the cessation of the fund.

On May 11, the playgroup hosted a meeting offering an opportunity for Early Years providers across Fermanagh and South Tyrone to come together and have their voices heard.

Local political representatives were in attendance to hear first-hand the direct impact that the cessation of the Pathway Fund will have within their local area.

Other Fermanagh organisations that will be impacted through the loss of the fund includes The Magic Roundabout, Enniskillen; Oakwood Childcare Ltd., Derrylin; Fermanagh Early Years Children and Family Centre, Enniskillen and Naiscoil An Traonaigh, Lisnaskea.

An online petition to overturn the proposed closure of the Pathway Fund for Northern Ireland has now closed with more than 13,000 signatures.

This will be presented to the Department of Education and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to highlight the public concern at the loss of this key service.