The Andrews Labor Government is helping Ballarat kindergartens to upgrade and improve their centres, giving every Victorian child the best start to life.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison and Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle today announced that two Ballarat Kinders have joined the ranks of over 100 other Early Childhood services to benefit from the Building Blocks Improvement grant program.

The Y Ballarat will receive $360,000 to deliver landscaping works and a playground for a new 114 place early learning centre with an integrated swim school in Water St, Brown Hill.

Additionally, Bakery Hill Kinder in Mair St, which is the oldest community run Kinder in regional Victoria, will receive a grant of $33,636. This funding will be used to improve the indoor environmental quality of the facility, by switching the facility from gas use to a fully electric. It will also create sheltered outdoor learning spaces and improve the sustainability of the kinder.

These local Kinders are two of the 104 services set to share in $17.7 million in funding to renovate and refurbish their centres.

Building Blocks Improvement grants of up to $500,000 are available towards an early learning facility upgrade or improvement project, providing services with funding to help them renovate and refurbish their centres.

The Labor Government is delivering an ambitious overhaul of early childhood education and care, with a massive $9 billion investment over the next decade to save families money and support women to return to the workforce.

Three-Year-Old Kinder is already rolling out across the state, expanding universal access to 15 hours of government-funded kinder every week – and from next year, it will be free.

Four-Year-Old Kinder will also be free, providing much-needed relief for family budgets and giving more women a choice to return to the workforce.

With 90 per cent of a child’s brain developing before the age of five, early education has a profound effect on the way children develop.

In addition to these nation-leading reforms, and to help address the current shortage of available childcare places, the Labor Government will establish 50 government-operated and affordable childcare centres in areas that need them most.

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, to avoid the dreaded double drop-off, reducing the burden on parents and helping build the Education State.

Visit www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/buildingblocks to apply.

Quotes attributable to Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison

“Congratulations to Bakery Hill Kinder and the Y Ballarat on receiving these building block grants. We’re supporting Ballarat families and our littlest learners by ensuring they have the facilities they deserve.”   

Quote attributable to Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle

“We’re proud to be boosting early childhood services in Ballarat East – because we know how important the early years are in setting our kids up for the rest of their lives.”