As children head back to school, kindergarten, and daycare, many families are feeling some relief as the state government’s Free Kinder initiative eases their financial burden.
More than 2,750 early childhood services across the state, including around 70 in the Greater Geelong area, are now able to offer free kinder to three- and four-year-olds in 2023.
Under the $270 million initiative, children enrolled in three-year-old kindergarten will receive between 5 and 15 hours of funded learning each week, while those in four-year-old kindergarten will receive 15 hours per week, thus saving parents up to $2000 per child each year.
Barwon Child, Youth and Family (BCYF) offer kindergarten programs at seven sites in the Geelong and Colac regions, and BCYF Early Years Education and Community Manager Julie Molloy said the Free Kinder initiative would help families who needed it most.
“For some families, kindergarten fees represent a significant cost at a time when household budgets are already stretched,” Ms Molloy said.
“Evidence shows that two years of kindergarten has a greater impact on children’s development than one, and play-based learning is the most powerful way to support children’s development and nurture the skills they need to be successful for school and life.
“Often, it’s the children who would benefit the most who miss out. Free kindergarten removes the financial burden so that all children can participate.”
The funding has also allowed more long daycare centres to offer kindergarten programs, which Headstart Early Learning Centre Ocean Grove early childhood teacher Lorie Lillingston said was a great option for working parents.
“It’s a massive convenience to have a structured kinder program in a long daycare service for those working families that aren’t able to have their child attend a sessional kinder that may only be three to five hours a day,” Ms Lillingston said.
“Myself, as a parent that has had a child here, its been a huge convenience to have those long daycare benefits alongside a kinder program.”
