New kinder rooms opened

LATE last month, Minister for children, Lizzie Blandthorn, was in the Golden Plains Shire opening new kindergarten facilities at Napoleons Primary School and Haddon Pre-School Centre.

These upgrades aim to assist more families in the region in accessing convenient kindergarten facilities.

Ms Blandthorn was joined by member for Ripon, Martha Haylett, and representatives from Eureka Community Kindergarten Association.

“It was lovely to see the kids enjoying their new playrooms and playground, and the educators enjoying an even better workplace too,” said Ms Haylett.

“Our communities on the outskirts of Ballarat are growing, increasing the demand on childcare and kinder places.

“All our kids deserve modern facilities to learn in, no matter where they live.”

Two new kindergarten rooms have been added to the Haddon Pre-School Centre which will create an extra 50 places.

This project was funded by the building blocks partnership between the State Government and the Golden Plains Shire.

The Napoleons Primary School Kindergarten is located on the same site as the Primary School, which is designed to make it easier for children to transition from one to the other and for parents to do drop-off and pick-up.

The facility has two classrooms, outdoor learning areas and play spaces, adding 118 extra kindergarten places to the region.

The project was funded by the $371 million allocated to kindergartens in the 2019 to 2020 state budget.

“The new facilities at Napoleons Primary School and Haddon Pre-School have delivered up to 168 additional kinder places across Golden Plains Shire, making quality early education easier to access, close to home,” said Ms Blandthorn.

“These new facilities are part of the Government’s commitment to give every Victorian child the best possible start in life.”