The first five years of children’s lives are crucial to their development. During this period, children learn at a faster rate than at any other time in their lives, developing basic cognitive and socio-emotional skills that are fundamental for their future achievements in school and later on as an adult.
These skills are also the foundation for their general wellbeing – how they cope with future successes and setbacks, professionally and in their personal lives.
For this reason, and in recognition of the importance of early childhood education the Andrews Labor government, in an Australian first, is introducing universal funded three-year-old kindergarten across Victoria.
In 2022 families in Mill Park will have access to five hours a week of funded three-year-old kinder. This will be progressively scaled up to the full 15-hours per week program by 2029.
To make sure that our local kinders have the appropriate facilities and resources to offer quality programs to every child in Mill Park, this past year alone we have invested almost $3.8 million to build new kinders, upgrade existing ones and to help them deliver high quality and inclusive programs that make the most of every minute that our children are playing and learning. In addition, we also supported over 25 local kinders with IT and inclusive equipment grants.
As well as improving educational performance across the whole system, increasing access to quality kindergarten programs also ensures greater equity. It supports all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to learn and thrive.
Having kindergarten facilities on or next to primary school sites, or ‘co-locating’, makes it easier for families to access kindergarten programs, makes drop-off time simpler for parents, and can contribute to a smoother transition from kindergarten to school for children. That’s why we made sure that our new Wollert Primary School, opening in a couple of months, will have a kindergarten on its grounds. I am also happy to announce that we are building a brand new kinder next to Meadowglen Primary School in Epping – offering 66 approved places when it opens in 2023.
And just to make the start of kinder a tiny bit more exciting for every child starting three-year-old kinder, when they start, they’ll get one new Kinder Kit too. The Kinder Kits are specially-designed and are being created to complement kinder learning by offering fun and creative activities to encourage family engagement in the child’s education and promote awareness of the benefits of continued learning at home.
And, last but not least, the roll-out of our three-year-old funded kinder is also going to create more jobs with some of them right here in the Mill Park electorate. It is estimated that as the program expands across Victoria more than 4000 additional kindergarten teachers and 2000 additional early childhood educators will be needed.
Please remember that I am here to support you, whenever you need.
Feel free to contact me via email at lily.d’ambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au or call on 9422 5171
