News
Page 12 The Moorabool News – 9 November, 2021
Email - news@themooraboolnews.com.au
Preparing early learners for school By Lachlan Ellis
The local kindergarten is one facility in Moorabool that will receive government funding. Photo – Lachlan Ellis
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Kindergartens across the Melton Electorate are set to receive more than $1.3 million in State Government funding, to be invested in new programs, supports and extra staffing. State Member for Melton Steve McGhie announced the investment into 36 kindergartens across the electorate, including eight in Moorabool, under the School Readiness Funding initiative. “We are making sure children in the Melton Electorate have the supports they need for the education they deserve ─ and this funding will help our local kinders best prepare our children for school,” Mr McGhie said. Mary Murphy is Director of Bacchus Marsh Childcare & Kindergarten Centre, and said while applications still needed to be organised for the 2022 funding, the extra resources would be vital for local kinder kids. “The whole point of the School Readiness Fund is not about teaching children how to unwrap their lunches and that sort of thing – it’s about the holistic development of the child, so that they’re socially and emotionally ready to go to school,” Ms Murphy told the Moorabool News. “I think it’s very important. It gives all services an opportunity to access and spend funds in relevant places that perhaps they couldn’t afford to do otherwise. It enables opportunities, resources and professional development that might not otherwise be possible.” Among the Moorabool kindergartens to benefit are Maddingley Montessori Centre, Story House Early Learning Telford Park, Aussie Kindies Early Learning Bacchus Marsh, Darley Early Years Hub, Bacchus Marsh Childcare & Kindergarten Centre, Pentland Childcare & Kindergarten Centre, Bacchus Marsh Montessori Preschool, and Young Street Kindergarten. The Melton Electorate kinders are just a fraction of the more than 2,500 across Victoria receiving a total of $53.9 million for 2022, as part of the State Government’s $160 million initiative. The initiative aims to support the growth communication, social and emotional wellbeing skills, as well as improving access and inclusion. There is also a strong emphasis on addressing educational disadvantage, and services will be funded according to the needs of their children, with literacy, language, and speech a few of the subjects in focus.
New sessions hit the airwaves
Moorabool Shire Council is hosting another series of online sessions regarding the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP), to better empower and inform the community. The first of three sessions for this year will be held this Thursday 11 November, beginning at 6 pm. AusNet Services, which will construct and operate the WVTNP, is preparing an Environment Effects Statement (EES) as part of the planning process – the community session aims to update the community and explain what an EES is. Presenting at the community session will be Jack Krohn, Senior Impact Assessor at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), who also presented at last September’s session. Two further sessions are planned for later in November as well as in December, with more information on dates and presenters to be made available in due course. To register for the session, submit a question, or suggest ideas for a session, visit www. moorabool.engagementhub.com.au and click ‘Western Victoria Transmission Network Project’ under ‘Current Projects’. Last year, Council hosted four online community sessions in relation to the WVTNP in September, October, and December.