By Callum Ludwig
Cire Services has excitedly announced the official opening of its new Early Years Learning Hub in Yarra Junction.
Situated alongside the Cire Community School campus, the new hub includes the early learning facility upstairs as well as conference rooms to be utilised by Cire and other businesses or services looking to have a presence in Yarra Junction.
$2 million for the project came from the Victorian Government’s Building Blocks Grants program, with Cire fronting the rest of the costs.
Cire’s Executive Manager of Early Learning Diletta Lanciana said she was excited to be there to celebrate the opening of the amazing facility and an important asset to the Upper Yarra community.
“Our grant was based on a vision to provide a holistic, one-stop shop ensuring that the community had access to a range of support services, including early learning, healthcare, allied health, counselling, all in one building,” she said.
“We recognise that the early years of life are the most important for learning, that’s where the foundations for the future are laid and we also know that early intervention is important to support better outcomes for children,”
“Through our networks and partnerships, we understand that families in the area have trouble accessing services due to the geographical barriers so we wanted to bring the services here, we want the hub to be an inclusive, accessible service minimising barriers for families.”
The project was first announced in December 2022, with construction starting early the following year.
Ms Lancania said the space is designed to be more inviting with an abundance of light.
“It is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach which believes that the child, parent, community and environment are all essential to the early years learning process, this is a holistic approach to early childhood education,” she said.
“The lower level has consulting groups and meeting groups which provide the potential to have children, families and the community to different services and supports in one place,”
“There are opportunities for training, community engagement, community dinners, morning teas, afternoon teas and much more, the sky’s the limit and this is a place where we can truly embrace the concept that it takes a village to raise a child.”
The new hub has 118 places available for long day care service, including 66 funded places for kinder-aged children.
Board Chair Julian Carle said he remembers coming out to the site when he first joined Cire, looking over to the right and thinking it was a strange-looking part of the site.
“There were some churches, they were some run-down buildings, there were all these different things and I asked what we do there and they said that’s where our early learning is and it was at that point that I thought that hopefully one day we’ll do something about that,” he said.
“I just want to say a big congratulations to everyone who’s been involved in it, it’s been a team effort, it’s been great seeing how it’s unfolded and I’m super excited to have you all with us.”
Cire Services CEO Gus Seremitis also stepped up to thank supporters of the project, including Yarra Ranges Council, the Victorian School Building Authority, not-for-profit employment employment service Campbell Page who will be establishing a service in the building, various contractors and Cire Services staff member Ricky, who provided progress photos of the construction each morning upon his arrival.
Victorian Minister for Children Lizzie Blanthorn was also invited to speak and said it was a privilege to be opening so many facilities like this one.
“We need a much more holistic approach to children’s services and that’s what happened and what our government is trying to achieve, we’re seeking to bring together the universal services like health and education with those more targeted family services and other children’s services,” she said.
“In so doing, facilities like this are absolutely critical so we’re upgrading and building new facilities like this right across our state.”
