The Andrews Labor Government is helping more families across the state get their kids into early childhood education, creating more than 300 new funded three-and four-year-old kindergarten places across Victoria.
Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt today announced that six centres will share in almost $10 million through the Building Blocks: Capacity Building grants stream to create new kindergarten places across metropolitan and regional Victoria.
New learning centres will be built in Ballarat and Drouin, creating 187 extra funded places for local families – while kindergartens in Boronia, Traralgon, Dingley and Cheltenham will expand their existing centres to create more than 130 new places.
In an Australian-first, the Labor Government is investing almost $5 billion in three-year-old kindergarten over this decade, with the roll-out beginning in selected areas in 2020 and expanding in 2022 to support five hours of three-year-old kindergarten.
As part of this roll-out, the Government is expanding infrastructure provision through a $1.68 billion commitment to co-invest with the early childhood sector in new and expanded kindergarten facilities across the state.
Every new Victorian primary school set to open from 2021 will have a kindergarten co-located on-site or next door, to reduce the burden on parents by ditching the dreaded double drop-off – as the Labor Government continues to build the Education State.
This includes all six new primary schools which opened this year.
For more information and to apply for a grant, visit https://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/building-blocks-grants-capacity-buildingExternal Link
As stated by Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt
“We’re delivering unprecedented investment in early childhood services across Victoria to help more kids and their families access better quality services.”
“We’re proud to be boosting early childhood services all across the state – because we know how important the early years are in setting our kids up for the rest of their lives.”
