Victorian Government announces Building Blocks Partnership with MACSEYE

Freya Lucas

Aug 06, 2024

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The Victorian Government will build or upgrade kindergartens at 12 low-fee Catholic schools as part of the first-ever Building Blocks Partnership (BBP) with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Early Years Education (MACSEYE).

Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn today announced the partnership, which will create more than 2,100 kindergarten places for families in Victoria’s growing outer suburbs, over the weekend.

The centres will each provide up to 178 kindergarten places for Three- and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten programs, offer out-of-hours school care, and include space for family consulting services.

The Government has made an $81 million investment in the partnership, with MACSEYE contributing $7.5 million.

Nine of the centres will open in 2026, with the other three opening in later years.

St Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic Primary School and two new schools set to open in Mount Atkinson and Thornhill Park will host three of the new early childhood centres opening in 2026. The others will be located at:

Our Lady of the Way Catholic Primary School (Wallan East)
Holy Cross Catholic Primary School (Mickleham)
Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School (Craigieburn West)
Glowrey Catholic Primary School (Wollert)
Carlo Acutis Catholic Primary School (Wollert West)
St Teresa of Kolkata Catholic Primary School (Tarneit North).

Locations for the three other early childhood centres will be announced at a later date.

“We are proud to partner with the Victorian Government to provide that opportunity to thousands more children in the Melbourne Archdiocese,” Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Executive Director Dr Edward Simons said.

“As educators, we know that children who experience a quality preschool program are more likely to arrive at school with the social, cognitive and emotional skills they need to help them to continue learning.”

With the addition of the MACSEYE partnership, the Victorian Government has now entered 15 Building Blocks partnerships – delivering 99 new and expanded kindergartens and more than 13,300 extra kinder places across the state.

Learn more about the Building Blocks Partnerships here.

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