Quality ECEC from a distance: NSW commits to supporting unique new preschools

Preschoolers in the New South Wales far north-west country town of Carinda will be the latest to benefit from a renewed commitment to a virtual distance education program model which combines online learning and face-to-face education from the NSW Government. 

For many, this will be the first time they have had the chance to attend preschool in person. Instead of traditionally staying at home, enrolled children will be able to attend a space at Carinda Public School for up to three days a week (600 hours a year) to participate in both face-to-face play-based and online learning delivered by Dubbo School of Distance Education.

Lisa Alonso Love, Deputy Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, said this unique and flexible approach particularly supports children and families who can’t engage in traditional distance learning due to a lack of internet access, limited parental literacy and financial difficulties.

“Just over one quarter of four and five-year-old preschoolers in NSW are from regional, remote and rural areas,” Ms Alonso Love said.

“Vital programs like this will help stop the education divide between these children and their metropolitan counterparts and ensure they arrive at school equipped with the social, cognitive and emotional skills they need to engage in learning.”

Three satellite preschools already operate in the remote towns of Ivanhoe, Louth, and Hermidale. The flexible program also funds a centre-based preschool in Pooncarie.

“The flexible learning programs are part of the Rural and Remote Education Strategy the Department of Education established to ensure that all children in rural and remote communities have access to quality early childhood education in the year before school,” Ms Alonso Love explained.

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