Tyler Redway
TWO Limestone Coast kindergartens will undertake a brand new Kindy Care trial program following a recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care.
The South Australian exclusive program is targeted towards parents and carers in need of out-of-hours care for their children, which would help to encourage continued engagement with the children to benefit their developmental needs.
The trial sites in the Limestone Coast include Gladigau Park Kindergarten in Mount Gambier/ Berrin and the Millicent North Kindergarten.
Generally government preschools are run using a sessional model which offers preschool from around 9am-3pm, though this trial will see hours expanded.
Department of Education and Early Childhood education director Adam Box said the program would cater to a range of working families who would benefit from the after hours element of the trial.
Mr Box said the feedback from the trial would also help to determine the program’s future in kindergartens state wide.
“The feedback from the trial will help to determine a broader rollout, so at the moment we have two kindergartens in the South East,” he said.
“After the trial of the 20 kindergartens, the results of that will determine how the program is going to look moving forward.
“It is certainly going to cater for families really well, it’s something we have thought about but the recommendations really come from the Royal Commission.”
Mr Box said the other purpose of the program was to hopefully increase the number of kindergarten enrolments for facilities undergoing the program’s trial period.
“We’re hoping it might also help with kindergarten enrolments so we’re offering parents the care outside regular preschool hours,” he said.
“We’re hoping parents will look at these kindergartens running the trials as really good places to enrol their kids because of the before and after of the program.
“We’re excited that we can trial a fit-for-purpose program for children and their families and we are really looking forward to being a part of the trial.”
The Kindy Care trials are expected to begin later this year in July for the 20 locations selected and fees would reflect those at school OSHC services.
