By Callum Ludwig
The Victorian Government has made more funding available for services to upgrade and improve Victorian kindergartens, and Millgrove Preschool is one of the first recipients of a game-changing grant.
The preschool will receive $273,000 from the boosted Building Blocks grants.
Janice Amos Millgrove Early Childhood Teacher said she was in shock to receive the news.
“I was on cloud nine, because I really didn’t we would get a grant for everything we put in for. We thought if we only get some of it, we’ll be happy, but when the grant came through it was fo the full amount” she said.
“Someone who was working with me wondered if I just received bad news because I was just staring at my email on my phone after a session saying oh my God.”
There are going to be two parts to Millgrove Preschool’s construction project.
Ms Amos said there will be improvements to both the indoor and outdoor facilities at the Preschool.
“We’re going to be replacing our sandpit because it’s rotting. We are pulling down the metal climbing frame, because it’s not inclusive for all children, and will be connecting a rain tank to a water pump to help children understand sustainability,” she said.
“Inside will be better heating and cooling to replace our ancient fans and only one air conditioner, and new flooring.”
Early learning facilities like Millgrove Preschool could apply for grants of up to $500,000, an increase of $200,000, for upgrade projects including renovation and refurbishment.
The Victorian Government is also investing almost $5 billion over this decade to deliver a full 15 hours per week of universally funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten in an Australian-first.
Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt said the grants are all about providing a great start to a child’s education and life.
“We want every Victorian child to have the best start in life – and that’s why we’ll keep backing early childhood services through unprecedented investment and world-class early learning initiatives,” she said.
“Boosting our Building Blocks grants will help local councils and early childhood services across Victoria improve their kindergartens, deliver better learning experiences and help set our kids up for the future.”
The Building Blocks Planning stream, which is open until 20 March, will fund planning and pre-construction work on kindergarten projects that support Three-Year-Old Kindergarten.
To apply for a Building Blocks grant visit schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/buildingblocks.
