Kinder bid ‘deadline’

KIM WATERS
COUNCIL is running out of time to decide on a site for a new Barwon Heads kindergarten, according to a spokesperson for the project.
Barwon Heads Kinder Futures Committee coordinator Anissa Yttrup said the community had 18 months to find a site after council announced the town’s primary school land was off limits.
Ms Yttrup said the committee was “back to the start” after months of investigations into the primary school site.
“We’re disappointed but we understand the reasons they’ve given for not using the land,” she said.
“We’ve been working closely with the school to look at viable sites and for lots of reasons they’ve decided the kinder can’t be accommodated at the local school.
Ms Yttrup said the kinder had an 18-month deadline to increase capacity before a mandated State Government boost in kinder hours began.
“We need a new kinder by 2012 and it’s achievable but a site needs to be decided on very, very soon.
“We already had to cut back on three-year-old places last year and without a new kinder we’d have to cut 25 four-year-old spots in 2012.
“There’s a massive demand in Barwon Heads and we just can’t satisfy that at the moment.”
Ward councillor Andy Richards said council ruled out the primary school fearing addition of a kindergarten would leave the site “congested”.
Cr Richards said investigations had shown the proposal was not “logistically viable”.
“The increased volume of traffic movements around the school site could also pose potential safety issues,” he said.
“Although there were many reasons for this recommendation, the main reason is that adding a new kindergarten on the school land would result in the site becoming congested and would not allow for the future expansion of the school or the kindergarten.
“Adding a new kindergarten building to the site would require the relocation of some classrooms and result in children at the school being required to attend classes in widely separated rooms.”
Cr Richards said council would work with the kindergarten committee and State Government to identify a suitable alternative.