Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall, centre, with children and staff in the new learning space at Kindamindi Preschool.
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
ADDITIONAL early education spaces and extra staff are the result of a new room which has officially opened at Inverell’s Kindamindi Preschool, with Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and Inverell District Family Services (IDFS) CEO Nicole Lavender today cutting a ribbon to mark the special occasion.
In 2019, Mr Marshall announced a $297,873 State Government Capitol Works Grant to extend the early childhood learning centre.
Mr Marshall said the addition of a third learning space at Kindamindi was part of an effort to address a shortage in child care places in Inverell.
“Every day there are around 10 children waiting to access preschool services at Kindamindi alone,” Mr Marshall said.
“The transition of a storage shed into a room for 3 to 5 year olds has created 12 extra preschool spaces for families in Inverell, all of which have already been snapped up.
“The room has been built to match the exciting open plan spaces Kindamindi is loved for.
“Three full-time staff have been employed from the Inverell region to provide care for the new children. This means IDFS now boasts over 90 staff, across all its services any given pay week.
“Whether you are from Inverell or Sydney, every child deserves access to a top-quality early childhood education because we know how important the early years are for their social, cognitive and emotional development.”
The room was completed in late October and has been in service since November last year.
Ms Lavender said the additional education places would particularly help aboriginal families and more vulnerable children of our community.
“Kindamindi has quite an extensive wait list, similar to other preschools and childcare centres in Inverell, because our town is growing,” Ms Lavender said
“We are fortunate to have a strong community who support each other and the benefit is, more people now choose Inverell to live, which increases the demand for quality early education for our most important people.
“We are working hard to try provide early education for aboriginal children who are in the two years before school ensuring they start their learning journey with their best foot forward.
“IDFS thanks the State Government for its ongoing support of our service and the programs we deliver.”