Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development Wendy Lovell had fun today enjoying Echuca South Community Preschool’s new playroom with some of the school’s 71 children.

At the official opening of the new playroom Ms Lovell said the portable playroom was made possible  with $200,000 funding from the Victorian Government and $53,000 raised by the kindergarten.

“This extra playroom means Echuca South Community Preschool can double its number of kindergarten places, which is crucial for Echuca families wanting to give their children the opportunity to access a world-class early childhood education,” Ms Lovell said.

“It’s great to see the new playroom being enjoyed by some of the preschool’s 71 children.”

Member for Rodney Paul Weller said the volunteers of the Echuca South Preschool community, past and present, had worked hard not only to raise significant funds to support this project, but also to negotiate complex issues in the planning stages.

“I commend all the volunteers on their hard work and congratulate them on seeing the project through to its conclusion,” Mr Weller said.

Ms Lovell said the new building enabled the preschool to provide four-year-olds with 15 hours of kindergarten per week – up from 10.75 hours – as part of a Victorian Government pilot program.

It is one of just 80 kindergartens across the state participating in the pilot project.

“Information from this pilot program at Echuca South Community Preschool will be used by kindergartens right across Victoria to help them make the move to 15 hours,” Ms Lovell said.

“The experience of Echuca South Community Preschool in changing kindergarten session times, creating new teaching plans, altering class timetables and providing information to the community will be of vital assistance to thousands of other Victorian kindergartens getting ready to make the change.”