The Murrayville community is about to receive a major upgrade to early years services following a funding boost from the Victorian Government.
The Murrayville Early Learning Centre provides early years services for babies through to pre-preps, but until now has been forced to deliver these services in a single open area as demand has increased.
Mildura Rural City Council has successfully applied for almost $750,000 through the Victorian Government's Building Blocks Improvement program to upgrade the early years centre.
Upgrades will include:
- A dedicated sleep room
- Improved outdoor play area
- Dedicated maternal, child health and allied health consulting rooms
- Community space for activities including playgroups.
Mallee Track Health and Community Service Early Years Manager Kyra Nathan said the upgrades would provide a raft of benefits for Murrayville's youngest residents and their families, as well as staff at the venue.
Ms Nathan said one of the biggest steps forward would be dedicated spaces for different stages of early years development.
"At the moment we have the integrated learning program for 1 – 5 years all using the same space," she said.
"One of the really big advantages will be a dedicated sleep room, which is badly needed.
"For babies to have a dedicated space to rest and sleep rather than have everyone in the room together as they do at the moment will be a big improvement."
Ms Nathan said the upgrade would also increase capacity of the centre, as well as provide better developmental outcomes for children.
"With pre-prep reform coming into play in the near future, having these dedicated areas will just allow us to really hone in on the developmental skills of the children," she said.
Murrayville Early Years Centre Parent Committee President Aoibheann Schroeder echoed Ms Nathan's comments.
"This upgrade will be a huge improvement, as the current building is no longer serving the purpose it is being used for," Ms Schroeder said.
"The staff have done an amazing job, but this refurbishment will make such an improvement to the care that can be provided to local children."
Ms Schroeder said the inclusion of dedicated age-appropriate areas within the building would be a major step forward.
"For example, we'll be able to have a proper sleeping area where children can be monitored, while older children can better focus on the learning they require in spaces allocated to specific age groups, such as kindergarten," she said.
"From a community perspective, there's a lot of excitement about this project because it's something we've been looking forward to for a long time.
"We're a growing community and this upgrade will allow us to accommodate this growth in terms of early years services, which is a great result."
Council will advertise for tenders to undertake the project before construction gets underway early next year.
Construction will take place in a staged approach to minimise disruption as much as possible for children at the centre. The project is expected to be completed in the latter half of 2025.
