Trinity College Gladstone to boost places and halve kindy fees in major win for local families

A Gladstone school that is expanding its kindergarten program is keen to make use of government funding which could halve school fees for local families. Full details.

Gladstone kids will benefit from cheaper, more accessible kindy classes as one local school expands its enrolment base to service the growing regional population.

Trinity College, Gladstone will welcome more kindergarteners from next year by adding a third classroom to its campus which will see 50 Gladstone kids start their education journey at the independent school.

The Sun Valley campus staff have been working hard over the past two years to devise a plan to increase enrolments, with many families voicing their anxiety over difficulty finding kindergarten spots in Gladstone.

Trinity College based in Sun Valley, Gladstone is offering more places at a cheaper rate in 2023 as the state government seeks to make early education more accessible for Australian families. Picture: Trinity College

Last week, the College was accredited to increase its 2023 intake from 40 to 50.

Currently, the school has 50 places allocated for Prep, so although it has long-term ambitions to grow its placements across a number of grades including its kindy, it does not expect to “double overnight”.

Trinity College principal Stephen Babbage said not only would the college have more places for kindy students next year, but he expected state and federal government funding would contribute to almost halving kindy fees.

Trinity College will have a new classroom for kindergarteners on campus in 2023 as well as an additional 10 slots for new students. Picture: Trinity College

“We want to ensure all of our kindergarten students are able to progress into our prep program and continue their educational journey through Trinity College until Year 12,” Mr Babbage said.

“Our kindergarten fees from 2023, with a government funded reduction, will be close to half the price of 2022 fee costs.

“We are hoping to have an announcement about expanding our prep places into the future soon.”

Mr Babbage said if the details of a recent briefing were accurate, the college would pass on a reduction in annual fees of about $1475 per student.

New government funding could see the school pass on a discount of almost $1500 to school fees in 2023. Picture: Trinity College

He also said there was a variety of funding measures to make kindy more affordable to those who needed it most.

“We have a variety of measures to make Trinity College as affordable as we can, so we can partner with parents for their students’ entire educational journey,” he said.

It comes as hundreds of regional families will benefit from free or reduced kindy fees following a $1b investment from the Palaszczuk government.