The town of Lunel will have a new micro-crèche at the start of the next school year

Premiers coups de pelle mi-janvier pour que les petits puissent jouer avec les leurs en septembre. A. C.

With fourteen places dedicated to children aged 2 months to 3 years, the structure, located rue Mario-Roustan, will somewhat compensate for the lack and the crisis in terms of reception.

In terms of childcare availability, we can say that Lunel is through the roof. Unfortunately, not in the positive sense of the word. With 38.4% of places distributed across the city, we are far from the national average which peaks at 59.3%.

But a more positive ceiling will soon be discussed with the one which will house the next Lunel micro-nursery, the first shovels of which were given on Monday January 15.

An essential necessity

"Very good news and a construction which had become, more than necessary, indispensable", rejoices Sonia Mokaddem .
A way, for the 6th deputy for children and youth, to underline and recall the important place that the policy dedicated to toddlers and young Lunel residents has taken since the start of the Soujol mandate.&nbsp ;"This achievement was part of the promises of the electoral campaign. Today, it’s a reality on the ground", continues the elected official who has been following the file since its genesis.

Located on rue Mario-Roustan, not far from the eponymous elementary school, the future building should open at the start of the school year in September with 14 places reserved for local children aged 2 months to 3 years. It is added to the three other existing structures which accommodate 79 children (read in box).

An achievement of 885,000 €

D’an amount of 885,000 € – including 246,00 € are supported by the Family Allowance Fund (Caf) and 234,000 € by the State – it will be established on a plot of land of 1,000 m2, symbolically transferred to the City for 1 € by the lessor ACM, whose residence is located close by.

140 m2 of interior spaces will be dedicated to families and early childhood: a reception, a games room, a changing room, a kitchen for heating meals (prepared and delivered by the service provider Élior, who also holds the school canteen market), a dormitory… And coming out of it well rested, rubbing their eyes after a good nap, the pitchouns will have the opportunity to relax and wake up in the 120 m2 outdoor spaces.

Numbers and letters

79. With 79 places in daycare for city children aged 2 months to 3 years, Lunel is not in a very good place in terms of reception (38.4% compared to 59.3% at the national level).
A number which will however increase with the micro-crèche expected for September. Today, toddlers and toddlers are spread across three sites: Le Manège enchanté, 233 chemin du Jeu de mail (40 places); L’Children’s Island, 50 rue Frédéric-Mistral (25 places); Babilune, 8 esplanade Jacques-Brel (14 places).

6. The future micro-crèche will be supervised by six staff including a young children's educator who will manage it, an auxiliary , a maintenance worker and three early childhood CAPs.

No name. The micro-crèche currently being built has not yet found its name, « even if leads exist, says Sonia Mokaddem, deputy for children and youth. As a result, the town hall services were asked to find a little name for it. This “brainstorm” hard!

In the medium term, they should even be able to water the vegetables in the vegetable garden planned as part of the educational project that the team of six staff will put in place (also read in the box). But we are not there yet. In a few days, technical services, partners and the children and youth assistant will visit the Baillargue company specializing in the construction of prefabricated wooden buildings.

"More personalized, more family"

After the foundations which will be poured during the month of February, these modules will be installed during March. All that remains is to develop the surroundings and perfect everything so that around fifteen Lunel families benefit from this new municipal service. That we could have hoped or imagined bigger as there are so few places.

"Besides the choice of the first land which we had to abandon (a plot in La Roquette which had not authorization to receive a reception structure for so-called vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, Editor's note) , we wanted the work with young children to be individualized, more personalized, more family-friendly. The future micro-crèche will fit perfectly with this deliberate choice", concludes Sonia Mokaddem.