Photo: South China Morning Post

Minister for Early Childhood Education Jenny Mikakos and Member for Mordialloc Tim Richardson visited Chelsea Heights Kindergarten today, joined by the local community and original kinder staff and students from 1967, when the kinder opened.

The kinder has undergone a $1.02 million upgrade, adding an indoor learning space, an outdoor undercover area, multipurpose meeting room and refurbishments to existing spaces and staff areas.

This exciting upgrade will increase the centre’s capacity to meet future demand for kindergarten enrolments.

The Government provided $350,000 for the upgrade through the Children’s Facilities Capital Program.

Ms Mikakos and Mr Richardson then turned the first sod of a $2.2 million project which will deliver a brand new facility for Acacia Avenue Pre-School.

A new building will be constructed next to the existing centre, featuring two indoor education spaces, staff facilities, and more than double the centre’s capacity to 66 places.

Local families with young children will be able to access the upgraded centre at the start of the 2019 kinder year.

Once construction is complete, the old facility will be demolished and a brand new outdoor area will be ready by the middle of that year.

The Labor Government provided $650,000 for the project, with Kingston Council stumping up $1.5 million.

The Labor Government is investing a record $123.6 million to build, expand and improve early years infrastructure across Victoria to ensure local families can continue to access great local kindergartens.

South east families are set to benefit from the Labor Government’s $202.1 million Education State Early Childhood Reform Plan, which provides strong support in early childhood so kids are ready for kinder, ready for school and ready for life.