Roll-out of three-year old kindergarten a success in Colac Otway
March 24, 2024
More than 220 three-year olds are paving the way for the future as the first cohort to attend fully-funded three-year old kindergarten in Colac Otway Shire.
Colac Otway was chosen as one of 15 shires to deliver the second round of fully-funded three-year-old kinder.
Mayor Kate Hanson said the introduction of funded three-year-old kindergarten meant that more Colac Otway children could benefit from early years play-based learning.
“It’s wonderful that kindergartens in Colac Otway Shire are able to offer families fully-funded three-year-old kinder; it will make a huge different to families across the region and is a wonderful investment in the future of our children by the State Government.
“Colac Otway is well placed in that we had the physical capacity to meet demand and it’s fantastic to see the program off to a great start, evidenced by the number of children attending three-year old kinder.
“Kindergarten is such an important stage of a child’s social and emotional development with plenty of research to support that two years of kindergarten are better than one, giving children in Colac Otway the opportunity at an extra year of learning, playing and making friends to prepare them for the transition to school,” Cr Hanson said.
Every kindergarten in Colac Otway can offer up to 15 hours a week of funded three-year-old kinder in 2021, under the new program.
Parents with children eligible for three-year-old kindergarten in 2022 can make inquiries at kindergartens now and enrolments for 2022 will open from June to August this year.
For a full list of kindergartens in Colac Otway Shire, including contact information, visit www.colacotway.vic.gov.au.
This program is part of a $5 billion State Government initiative to deliver 15 hours of funded kindergarten programs to three-year-old children in Victoria over the next 10 years.
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