The pitter patter of little feet is taking over Mitchell with a post COVID-19 lockdown baby boom.
A staggering 25 babies were born in the span of just eight days earlier this month across the shire, with Kilmore seeing a 34 per cent increase in births over the past 12 months.
There was a 21 per cent increase in the number of babies born across Mitchell Shire in 2020/21 - meaning 706 bundles of joy were delivered.
How many newborns did your community welcome in 2020/21?
- Beveridge: 104
- Broadford: 61
- Kilmore: 135
- Puckapunyal: 25
- Pyalong: 13
- Seymour: 61
- Wallan: 273
- Wandong: 31
The number of children and parents accessing Mitchell's Maternal and Child Health Centres is also at a record high with a 5 per cent increase from 0-6 year olds.
Kindergarten enrolments are up 32 per cent across sessional kindergarten services in Mitchell between 2019 and 2021.
As our population continues to grow and we welcome more babies to Mitchell, our advocacy teams are working harder than ever to ensure we have the facilities to meet future demand.
In March, Council opened the Wallan East Children's Centre which has the capacity to accommodate almost 200 children.
Work is underway on the Wandong Kindergarten and Maternal Child Health expansion. While Kilmore's Marie Williams Kindergarten will be transformed into the Kilmore Family and Children's Centre, an integrated facility to accommodate the population growth and the introduction of funded three-year-old kindergarten in 2022.
