1.2 hectare lot secured for new Yeppoon ECEC service

1.2 hectares of land has been secured to develop Yeppoon Coastal Kids, a 180 place early childhood education and care (ECEC) service catering for children from birth to four years of age on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast.  

Ten separate internal rooms will cater for the children and their educators, with each room having direct access to outdoor play areas enclosed by an acoustic fence. The centre will be situated within Cerulean Estate at Lot 10 Taranganba Road, adjacent to the existing primary school.

The new facility has been proposed to provide long-day care and a kindergarten program for up to 180 children and provide twenty-seven full-time jobs, and is described as “a natural progression” for operators Kerri and Shaun Corrigan who run Coastal Kids Childcare Centre at Emu Park.

“At our Emu Park centre we already have a long waiting list of people seeking care and kindergarten services and many of our current children come from Yeppoon,” Ms Corrigan said.

“We currently have over 200 children attending our Emu Park centre daily with sixty amazing staff on board.”

“The demand continues to grow and when we had the opportunity to create a new childcare and kindergarten centre in Yeppoon, we jumped at it.”

She said the site is perfectly situated to create “a real bush feel” for the children to enjoy. 

“We are thrilled to have plenty of space to create some amazing outdoor spaces for the children to get out with nature,” she said.

“The site is currently heavily overgrown bushland and we want to preserve as much of the natural environment as possible.”

A shallow creek will run through the grounds, and mature trees will be preserved to allow wildlife to use the site as a corridor. 

Ms Corrigan has worked in ECEC for over 30 years and purchased Emu Park Coastal Kids almost 17 years ago.

Cerulean Estate Development and Sales Manager Amanda Millers said they are very excited to offer a nature play based childcare facility at Cerulean Estate, saying the Corrigan’s proposal for a nature based care site was impressive. 

“The well thought out design allows for the childcare (sic.) to exist harmoniously beside the Estate, with a nature buffer to be retained and an acoustic fence construction which will allow optimum privacy to our adjoining residents,” she added. 

Construction of Cerulean Estate is due to begin later this month. To read local coverage of this story please see here.