The Andrews Labor Government is helping more families in Grovedale access crucial early childhood services to give their children the best start in life.
Member for South Barwon Darren Cheeseman was proud to visit the recently completed expansion project at St Paul’s Lutheran Kindergarten in Grovedale, funded by a $816,000 grant through the Victorian Government’s Building Blocks Program in 2020, for a total project cost of $1.08 million.
The project built an extra classroom and increased the licensed capacity of the service by 43. This enables increased hours for the 44 existing three-year-old places in line with new Victorian DET funding arrangements from 2022. The project allows St Paul’s to offer extended hours care, while the existing bathroom and kitchen have been altered to cater for the extra room. A consultation room allows children/families to access health and support services onsite, including Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Developmental Assessments.
The upgraded facility was officially opened and blessed on Tuesday 1st March, ready to provide quality education services to the Grovedale community.
In an Australian-first, the Government has invested almost $5 billion to deliver a full 15 hours of Three-Year-Old Kinder to children across the state 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 statewide.
As part of this roll-out, the government is co-investing $1.68 billion with the early childhood sector to build and expand kindergarten facilities across the state. The Labor Government is also ensuring that every new Victorian primary school set to open from 2021 will have a kindergarten on-site or next door, reducing the burden on parents by helping them ditch the ‘dreaded double drop-off’.
To find out more about the Building Block grants, visit schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/Pages/Building-Blocks-Grants-Capacity.
Quote attributable to Member for South Barwon Darren Cheeseman
“Every child in South Barwon deserves access to the best kinder, so they can get the best start to their education journey – and that’s exactly what we have delivered with the St Paul’s Lutheran Kinder upgrade.”
Quote attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt
We want every Victorian child to have access to fantastic early years education, close to home – because we know how vital it is in setting our kids up for the rest of their lives.”
