We are delighted to partner with the Victorian Government under its Building Blocks initiative to future-proof six much-loved early years education and care centres in our City.
Our Council is providing more than $18 million and the Victorian Government is contributing up to $12.6 million.
This great news for our community follows our recent decision to not sell three ageing community-run early years education and care centres (Eildon Road Childcare and Kindergarten, St Kilda, The Avenue Children’s Centre and Kindergarten, Balaclava, and the Elwood Children’s Centre), subject to this funding agreement being reached.
Over the next seven years, this partnership will ensure all of these six centres requiring significant renovation or replacement will be made fit-for-purpose and accessible for generations to come at the same locations. They are:
- Eildon Road Childcare and Kindergarten, St Kilda
- The Avenue Children’s Centre and Kindergarten, Balaclava
- Elwood Children’s Centre
- North St Kilda Children’s Centre
- Clarendon Children’s Centre, South Melbourne
- Lilian Cannam Kindergarten, South Melbourne.
Works for the first three centres will be prioritised under the partnership.
We thank the Victorian Government for this vital support as the scope of these works meant we couldn’t deliver these significant renewals alone.
We also want to thank the community members and centre committees for the passion and ideas they contributed to this terrific outcome.
We’re pleased this announcement provides certainty to both the operators and the families and care-givers using, or planning to use, these community resources. Our Council will continue to work closely with the centres, including consulting on design and providing support to minimise disruption to operations when construction is underway.
This is an exciting step forward as the significant investment provided under the agreement adds to our City’s proud history of providing and supporting early childhood learning and care.
We own 17 facilities, providing over a third of Port Phillip’s licenced childcare places, and with each we strive to achieve the vision at the core of our Children’s Services Policy: Every Child, Our Future.
A children’s services environment that honours diversity, builds creativity and social connections and encourages all children and families to maximise their development outcomes now and in the future.
This agreement is also timely as it supports the Victorian Government’s early education and care reform agenda which seeks to benefit all children – especially those who need it most.
While details such as the timing of the works are yet to be determined, we are now well on our way to delivering modern, high quality and accessible facilities at the start of the learning journey for many of our youngest residents.
