Queen Street Uniting Early Learning to close after 60 years of service to Wellington Shire

Queen Street Uniting Early Learning Centre in the regional Victorian community of Maffra will permanently close its doors at the end of this year after 60 years of providing education and care to the children of Wellington Shire. 

Families were advised of the closure last month through an email from Uniting’s Gippsland Early Years Admin, who outlined that the decision had been made to consolidate the service with Glassford Street Kindergarten, and that the provider was “committed to exploring and assessing the Queen Street site for future Early Learning redevelopment opportunities”.

Local families were reportedly shocked by the news, with local paper Gippsland Times extensively covering the issue, describing residents as being “apprehensive, frustrated, and confused” while “scrambling with the nearly impossible task of finding alternative kindergarten arrangements for 2023”.

Speaking on behalf of the provider, Executive Officer Early Learning Uniting Victoria Tasmania Fiona Balsillie provided an assurance that all children enrolled at Queen Street Kindergarten for the coming year would be transferred to Glassford Street, which is just 1.5 kilometres from the service. 

“As well as being a newer facility, our Glassford Street service provides a range of other benefits for children and families, including two large program rooms and a bigger playground,” she told the paper. 

Part of the move, however, will see changes to the program and models offered for 2023 including all sessions becoming multi-aged. This means all Glassford Street sessions will have a mixture of children aged between three and five years of age.

To access the original coverage of this story, please see here.