Hobsons Bay City Council to receive $600,000 from Building Blocks grant

Hobsons Bay City Council will receive $600,000 from the Victorian Government’s Building Blocks Infrastructure grant to expand the Newport Gardens Early Years Centre to accommodate an extra 33 places for three-year-old kindergarten in 2022.

The Newport Gardens Early Years Centre, managed by ECMS, is an integrated, inclusive and collaborative early years’ service that provides access to high quality early learning programs and children’s and family services on the Newport Gardens Primary School site.

Services include education and care programs, early intervention Yooralla services, maternal and child health, a toy library, supported playgroups, family support programs as well as supporting a “seamless transition” for children from preschool to primary school.

“To be able to expand the Newport Gardens Early Years Centre to accommodate three-year-old kindergarten will ensure families and children in Hobsons Bay have access to high quality education and care programs,” Mayor Jonathon Marsden said. 

“Being the father of a three-year-old, I feel strongly about the importance of education in the early years to give our little ones the best possible chance at succeeding in life. To be able to expand the Newport Gardens Early Years Centre to accommodate three-year-old kindergarten will ensure families and children in Hobsons Bay have access to high quality education and care programs.”

Mayor Marsden thanked the Victorian Government for the funding, which he said “certainly brings some positivity at the tail end of a very challenging year for our local families.”