Pictured above: : Mitchell Shire Mayor Cr Rhonda Sanderson and Member for Northern Victoria the Hon. Jaclyn Symes at Wandong Kindergarten.
Wandong Kindergarten is gearing up to welcome an additional 20 children next year as expansion works get underway.
Member for Northern Victoria, the Hon. Jaclyn Symes and Mitchell Shire Mayor Cr Rhonda Sanderson visited the site on Thursday, 29 July.
The expansion includes increasing the size of the first kindergarten room, new nappy change and bathroom facilities and an upgrade to the Wandong Maternal and Child Health space including a kitchenette, toilets, storage and new entry.
Once complete, the centre will be able to accommodate almost 100 kindergarten children with upgrades to the Maternal and Child Health space enabling an extra day of kindergarten timetabling each week to support the introduction of five hours of funded three-year-old kindergarten in 2022.
The Wandong Kindergarten supports the integrated delivery of early childhood and family services through the co-location with Maternal Child Health services and connections to the Wandong Primary School precinct.
From 2022, Wandong Kindergarten will provide funded four-year-old and five hours of funded three-year-old kindergarten programs. This model will enable children to smoothly transition from three-year-old kindergarten to four-year-old kindergarten through a consistent learning environment. From there, the kindergarten's partnership with the local primary school would take the seamless transition one step further into primary education.
During construction, the Maternal Child Health services will be temporarily relocated. The MCH team will contact clients for any changes to appointments.
The $498,000 Wandong Kindergarten Expansion is funded by the Victorian State Government through the Building Blocks fund.
