A decades-long dream of a combined childcare centre and preschool on the site of the Kingston Community School in South Australia’s south east is set to come true with $3.5 million in state government funding announced for the project.
Key points:
- Kingston South East residents have been pushing for more childcare places in the town
- Federal funding was announced last year but fell short of the amount needed
- The state government will contribute $3.5 million to the project
The town of Kingston South East has been identified as a “childcare desert” where the lack of places prevents families from staying in or moving to the area.
State Education Minister Blair Boyer delivered the news to the Kingston SE Early Learning and Childcare Services Working Group’s Kirsty Starling in a phone call on Monday.
“We were blown away by the $3.5 million — that’s just incredible,” Ms Starling said.
The first $1.8 million for the project was announced in the federal budget in October, following a promise ahead of the federal election.
But initial estimates that came back earlier this year found the cost would be well above that amount.
Between 40 and 50 children are on the waiting list for childcare at the existing childcare centre in Kingston.
Ms Starling said the new centre to be built with its own entrance on East Terrace would make it more “enticing” for families to stay in Kingston and for parents to be able to seek work while their children were young.
“It’s going to be life-changing to have a new wraparound service with everything on one site at the school,” she said.
“It’s going to be amazing because everyone can be together — education and the transition from childcare to kindergarten to school can be seamless.
“And there will be more positions for everyone to access. It will be a great workplace for the staff to work at, and we’re hoping it’s going to be a really amazing thing for our community.”
Mr Boyer said childcare was just as important in regional areas as it was in the city to bring more people, especially women, into the workforce.
He said small communities in the past had assumed childcare centres would not open in their towns, but this was changing.
“Childcare in rural areas is a big priority of ours and it is something that has been neglected everywhere around Australia for decades and decades and not been set as a priority,” Mr Boyer said.
“We want to take a different position and that means we need to support different projects like this.”
A member of the Kingston working group, Kristen Wilks, spoke at the state government’s Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care last week.
She told Commissioner Julia Gillard that a family’s location should not impact its access to childcare and that a lack of spaces was affecting the economies of regional areas.
The Kingston District Council agreed last month to manage the project, which includes building the centre.
“We are now turning our attention to the next stage of the project, which will include in partnership with Department for Education detailed designs, architectural plans and seeking submissions to undertake the building works,” council’s chief executive Nat Traeger said.
Posted
