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\u2019s funded kindergartens have joined the Free Kinder initiative.<\/p>\n
Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said the free kinder program will relieve some financial pressures on families, and particularly mothers with young children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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\u2026 to ensure that they have access to kinder without the financial burden associated with that kindergarten fee,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of this announcement is also ensuring that women in particular can return to work post COVID.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany 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\u2019s really important\u2026 to encourage them to be able to get back into the workforce whether that be through training and skills or through workforce participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how important that is and that\u2019s why having access to free kinder this year can make such a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost 100,000 families across Victoria have access to the State Government initiative funded by $169.6 million from this year\u2019s budget, aimed at saving them an average of around $2000 per child.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a huge thing for our families. That makes it accessible and inclusive for all children to be able to come to kinder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have actually already just got a new staff member to help with the increase in our four-year-old kinder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the pre-kinder we have got a group that can take 22 children and we\u2019re already at 21 with three on the waiting list so there\u2019s a big demand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s 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. […]<\/p>\n