Thursday, 1 August 2024

East Ivanhoe Preschool

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (10:46): I just thought I would get up and have a chat about East Ivanhoe Preschool and the $3.6 million commitment that our government has made to building a brand new kindergarten in East Ivanhoe at the preschool. Over the next six months we are going to see a brand new build in East Ivanhoe that is going to open up places for 110 local children. That is effectively doubling the capacity there at East Ivanhoe Preschool. Construction is underway now. I was there with the Banyule City Council mayor Peter Castaldo, who is also a local councillor there, and it is great to be working with Banyule on renewing and refreshing our preschool facilities across the Ivanhoe electorate.

It is part of wider kinder reforms. We are seeing those reforms delivered in partnership with early learning providers and local councils so that all Victorian kids can now get two years of free kinder support. Every three-year-old can now have at least 5 hours of free kindergarten a week, and by 2029 we will increase that to 15 hours. We are also doubling the kinder for four-year-olds to 30 hours a week with the new pre-prep. It is about giving children the best start in life, but to do that, though, we have got to make sure we are investing in our facilities and services, those preschool centres, so that they can cater for more families and more children. There are plenty of young families in East Ivanhoe, where there is a great history, but of course a lot of our services that have provided great services for many generations need to be renewed, and this $3.6 million brand new kinder expansion in East Ivanhoe is going to be great for the local community.