Kids get access to free kinder

FREE three and four-year-old kinder will be available to families across Bendigo following an announcement last week that all forty-one of the region’s funded kindergartens have joined the Free Kinder initiative.

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said the free kinder program will relieve some financial pressures on families, and particularly mothers with young children.

“This is about making sure that as we recover from COVID and the economic impact of COVID, that the pressure is taken off families across Bendigo… to ensure that they have access to kinder without the financial burden associated with that kindergarten fee,” she said.

“Part of this announcement is also ensuring that women in particular can return to work post COVID.

“Many women obviously have been working from home or have lost their jobs or have been unable to continue their jobs with the ending of JobKeeper, so we know that it’s really important… to encourage them to be able to get back into the workforce whether that be through training and skills or through workforce participation.

“We know how important that is and that’s why having access to free kinder this year can make such a big difference.”

Almost 100,000 families across Victoria have access to the State Government initiative funded by $169.6 million from this year’s budget, aimed at saving them an average of around $2000 per child.

Educational leader and teacher at Shine Bright Kangaroo Flat Kindergarten Suzanne McCartney said it will benefit the families she works with, and the centre has already increased their staff to meet growing demand.

“That’s a huge thing for our families. That makes it accessible and inclusive for all children to be able to come to kinder,” she said.

“We have actually already just got a new staff member to help with the increase in our four-year-old kinder.

“With the pre-kinder we have got a group that can take 22 children and we’re already at 21 with three on the waiting list so there’s a big demand for it.”