STATE GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE $3.5M FOR LONG AWAITED EARLY YEARS FACILITY IN KINGSTON!
MEDIA RELEASE - 2 MAY 2023
Photo: Representatives of the KELCS Working Group including Kingston District Council CEO Nat Traeger & Mayor Jeff Pope receiving the Award for Active Citizenship at the Australia Day Awards 2023
The Kingston Early Learning Childcare Services Working Group (KELCS) & Kingston District Council (KDC) are overjoyed to announce that $3.5m will be allocated in the State Government budget this May to deliver a much-needed new early years facility for Kingston SE.
The facility has been a long time in the making with the vision of the KELCS working group to deliver a new purpose-built early year’s facility on the grounds of the Kingston Community School finally becoming a reality, with the State Government commitment today.
KELCS Chair Kirsty Starling, who is part of a small working group which includes the Principal of the Kingston Community School, Director of the Kingston Early Leaning Centre, KELCS and KDC representatives have been regularly meeting with Department for Education (DfE) representatives since 2022 to drive the project forward.
“We have been working tirelessly to increase access to early learning and childcare opportunities for the families and children of Kingston SE, and it is amazing to see that our advocacy as a small group of determined volunteers will finally deliver meaningful and significant change. When Minister Boyer called to deliver the news, I couldn’t believe it. We have been working with so many departments, on all levels of government since 2017. This will be life changing for our community and hopefully lead the way to a brighter and bolder early years system for regional South Australia”.
This announcement tops off a significant time of advocacy for KELCS as they were recently invited to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in Adelaide. KELCS representative Kristen Wilks attended as part of a panel session to discuss the challenge of accessibility to early learning services and care in regional and remote areas.
“The Royal Commission seeks to deliver recommendations to the State Government to deliver greater early years learning opportunities, increased access to OSHC services and support services in the first 1000 days of a child’s life. Kingston will now be well placed to implement any future innovative pilot programs and recommendations from the Royal Commission and to implement the three and four-year-old Kindergarten program as it is rolled out in the coming years. We look forward to working with the State Government to deliver an exceptional facility for the families of Kingston.” said Kirsty Starling.
The $3.5m is the State Government’s financial contribution to the pre-school component of the new early years facility with the Federal Government having committed the amount of $1.8m to help fund the infrastructure cost of the childcare facility in 2022, bringing the total project funding to $5.3m.
Kingston District Council Mayor Jeff Pope said, “this is a great example of how extraordinary outcomes can be achieved when all levels of government work together”. He indicated that the Council had supported the KELCS since its inception, but that support had stepped up a gear with the Council agreeing last month to undertake the capital build and project manage the new centre, should the last of the funding requirements come to fruition.
Chief Executive Officer Nat Traeger, who is also a member of the KELCS paid tribute to the group, saying “I have been extraordinarily privileged to be on a motivational journey with some inspiring and fiercely determined women, who have stayed the course long after their own children no longer required childcare services”.
“We are now turning our attention to the next stage of the project, which will include, in partnership with DfE, detailed designs, architectural plans and seeking submissions to undertake the building works”.