New integrated early learning centre in Mooroopna underway

An $20.5 million integrated early learning centre which will bring together a host of services, including a three- and four-year-old kindergarten, long day care, community spaces, maternal and child health rooms, and paediatrician and welfare rooms, has been described by  Mooroopna Primary School principal Steven Rogers as “a dream come true.” 

The project will mean that children and families attending Mooroopna, located in the Victorian region of Shepparton, will have a single-entry hub for early learning, primary school, adult education and health services.

Local news source Shepparton News has reported on the project, with Mr Rogers telling the publication that construction represents the peak of a decade-long period of consultation with the school and broader community. 

The project is part of the broader Shepparton Education Plan, and is one of 10 Victorian Government Our Place locations. With places for 100 children, the early learning centre is expected to open in 2021. 

Having lived in Mooroopna since the early 1990’s, Mr Rogers said the centre would help to address some of the welfare and educational needs of the local community, something which has been reflected in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data for the area, which showed that nearly half of the children under the age of five years were either socially, economically or physically vulnerable, or had difficulty communicating.

The holistic nature of services which will be offered by the integrated learning centre, Mr Rogers said, would support not only the children themselves, but their families also. 

Community response, once the concept of integrated service provision has been clearly outlined, has been favourable, and Mr Rogers told Shepparton News that there is “a real level of excitement” about the project.