What is changing?

Victoria is transitioning to a 30-hour pre-prep program for 4-year-olds. This means more kindergarten for children and more support for parents to re-join the workforce.

Investment in early learning is proven to have positive benefits for society including better health, happiness, resilience and social equality.

Frankston City Council is seeking partnership funding to expand and extend Kindergarten and Maternal and Child Health Services. This work is required so all children can access free kindergarten in a community setting.

This will require Council to provide an increase in physical places and infrastructure for kindergartens, which this Kindergarten Strategy will plan for. We are seeking your views to assist with this planning.

In developing the Kindergarten Partnership Strategy, we have brought together information and input from community feedback, demographic data, early years regulations and feasibility studies.

What is Council doing?

Council provides 23 kindergarten buildings and 13 Maternal and Child Health Services. To ensure they meet our community's needs, we have:

• Developed a Kindergarten Partnership Strategy, with community and stakeholder input, that plans for the increase in physical places and infrastructure.
  
• Assessed our community's demographics to map current and future need.
• Undertaken functional assessments to determine current buildings are “fit for purpose”.
• Undertaken broad feasibility assessments to determine what is possible.
• Mapped the impact on space requirements of the Pre-prep program (30 hours a week for four-year-olds) and the increase to 15 hours a week for three-year-olds.
• Engaged with the community to understand needs and preferences for accessing kindergarten services.