Child centre bids for ABC

By Kath Gannaway
ROBYN Jane Childcare Centre (RJCC) in Healesville has made a bid for the local ABC Learning Centre.
The not-for-profit centre was successful in being short-listed by PPB, Receivers for the ABC2 Group of centres.
Stephen Parbery and Daniel Bryant of PPB said they had received around 180 binding offers to purchase the 241 ABC2 Learning Centres.
The 90-place Healesville centre built by the failed ABC Group at a cost of more than $1m in 2006 was hailed at the time by its Head of Acquisitions Don Jones as one of their best.
He said Healesville had been identified as a growth area for childcare and certainly RJCC president Mandy Bruder would support that finding.
RJCC has for some time wanted to expand.
ABC’s demise has provided that opportunity but, with a very tight time-line and competition from other major players, commercial and not-for-profit, who have also put in bids, it has been a challenging few months for the committee.
Mr Bruder said the RJCC put in their offer and hoped for some indication of their success, or otherwise, by Monday last week.
As of Friday, Ms Bruder said they had not heard from PPB.
She said the RJCC had been firm in its determination to continue with the bid for the lease of ABC2 Healesville Central but told the Mail it had been a frustrating and at times daunting process.
For a not-for-profit organisation, one of the barriers was the cost associated with the legal, business and financial support needed to pull the bid together.
“Normally we would be able to have some assistance with potential pro-bono assistance.
“However due to the limited time frame we were unable to access this type of support,” Ms Bruder said.
Ms Bruder said their motivation had always been to ensure the Healesville community had adequate, quality childcare.
“We have waiting lists and we don’t want to let any families down,” she said.
The Federal funding, which is keeping the ABC2 Centres open, ends of 31 March.
“It’s another tight deadline the RJCC will have to deal with if it gets the chance to expand its services.
“We’ve put our best effort in, making sure the Robyn Jane families will not be at risk with the bid,” Ms Bruder said.
“We’ve done our best. We’re pleased with our effort and hopeful that the receivers will be looking at us favourably,” she added.