Laverton electorate early childhood education
Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (10:15): Sunshine Primary School is where it was all happening last week, when not only the Minister for Children in the other place but also our wonderful Premier came to visit. They were both there to officially kick off works on the new onsite kindergarten we are building at Sunshine Primary School. This new early learning centre is one of the first of 50 new kinders that our government is building as part of our flagship $1.3 billion Best Start, Best Life program, meaning more kids in Victoria will be able to benefit from free kinder. Once completed, this new centre will be able to provide three-year-old and four-year-old kindergarten classes for up to 130 kids each and every single day. For families in Sunshine this means an end to the dreaded double drop-off and improved access to early childhood services, including maternal and child health care. It is also going to make it a much easier transition to primary school for local kids, especially with the transition from our four-year-old kinder to pre-prep, which is currently underway.
This is just the first of three new kinders that are in the pipeline for the Sunshine community, with planning also underway for new onsite kinders at Ardeer South Primary School and Glengala Primary School in Sunshine West. It is absolutely fantastic that construction works on this project have started at last, and I cannot wait to see this brand new kinder finished and ready to open in term 1 next year, when the centre opens its doors to parents and kids for the very first time.