Thursday, 24 March 2022

Mooroopna children and families centre

Ms SHEED (Shepparton) (09:53): It was wonderful to attend the official opening of the Mooroopna children and families centre on Thursday last week by the Minister for Early Childhood, Ingrid Stitt. The centre, which is part of the Shepparton Education Plan, has been open for a few months already, and it was fantastic to see the three- and four-year-old kindergarten students thriving in this stunning new facility. The centre has everything young children need to begin their educational journey and help them transition easily into primary school, which is just next door. As well as a kindergarten, the centre has child healthcare facilities, which include a maternal and child health nurse, paediatric services and a therapeutic play specialist, and community meeting facilities. All of this provides a convenient way for parents to monitor and participate in their children’s early education. The aim is to develop happy, healthy and resilient children who will make their way through the education system with a capacity to learn and ultimately enter the workforce and live a fulfilling life. It is a program that has been done in partnership with the Julius Colman foundation and provides some really outstanding opportunities. This is a regional community where people live together, they work together and their children go to school together. Anyone who is a regional MP knows that in regional communities we all live together, we all go to the same supermarkets, we all share the same hospital—we do not look for any form of segregation, because we are a community.