Vic: Diggers Rest and Woodend kindergartens receive upgrade funding

Kindergartens in Diggers Rest and Woodend are the latest facilities to receive funding from the Victorian Government to upgrade their facilities.

 

The Diggers Rest Kindergarten, located outside Sunbury in Melbourne’s west, will receive a $1.3 million upgrade as part of the 2018-19 Children’s Facilities Capital Program. The Victorian Government is contributing $350,000 to the expansion, along with $979,000 from the City of Melton, to extend the existing learning space and create more three- and four-year-old kinder places.

 

The Woodend Kindergarten, located in the Macedon region in central Victoria, will receive $152,000 also through the Children’s Facilities Capital Program to upgrade its outdoor play space. The funding is on top of the $198,500 the centre also has received through the recent Pick My Project initiative, with locals voting it a winner.

 

Support for the kindergartens come as Labor announced its plan to build 785 new kinders and upgrade 170 more if re-elected, as part of its almost $5 billion three-year-old kinder reform.

 

Under the plan, the Victorian Government has committed to invest $5 billion over the next decade to deliver a full 15 hours of three year old kindergarten from 2020, if the party is re-elected. A reform which the government says will create massive demand for early childhood services.

 

The state government said that the introduction of three-year-old kinder will be the biggest early education reform in Victoria’s history.