Lalor’s Jacaranda Preschool is turning 21 – and the community is invited to join in the celebration.
The preschool will host a 21st birthday celebration on Saturday, November 16, to celebrate the achievements of the kindergarten and to recognise the hard work and love that the teachers and educators have poured into the service over the years.
The preschool was established in 2003 when Kingsway Drive Kindergarten and Lalor Park Kindergarten amalgamated.
Jacaranda educational leader Jo Argyropoulos said the preschool is run by a voluntary committee of management, consisting of parents whose children are enrolled at the service or are on the waiting list for the kindergarten.
“We love engaging with families and building amazing relationships with them, some of these families feel like our family,” she said.
Ms Argyropoulos said all previous staff have been invited to the celebration.
The longest servicing teacher, Leanne Naum, has been with the preschool for almost 31 years, having worked at Lalor Park. Another teacher, Rose Pennacchia, has worked there for almost 25 years.
Ms Argyropoulos described the preschool as a “special service”.
“The kinder provides early childhood education to almost 200 families … we are the first kinder in the City of Whittlesea to start up an outdoor bush kinder program,” she said.
“We also have four-year-old groups who participate in an Auslan program through Expression Australia and have been running a breakfast program at the kinder for children who don’t have access or time to eat breakfast before they arrive.”
The celebration will be held at the kinder’s Kingsway Drive site, from 11am-2pm, and will feature an art show, sausage sizzle, market stalls with items the children have made to sell, a face-painter and photo albums displaying photos from the past 21 years,
Entry is by gold coin donation.
