Full list and interactive map: NSW’s 85 newest public preschools go out to tender
The NSW government’s promise to build and staff 100 new public preschools across the state has advanced one step further, with tenders for the first eight new facilities to go out next month. See where they’ll be built.
Early Education
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Families in Wollongong and the Illawarra region will be among the first to see the fruits of the NSW government’s promise to build and staff 100 new public preschools across the state, with tenders for the region’s eight new facilities to go out next month.
Tenders for 85 preschools in total will be released to the construction industry by the end of the year, with a value of around $470 million to the NSW economy and a two-year deadline to have the preschools operational in 2027.
The first cabs off the ranks will be those co-located with Lake Heights Public School, Berkeley West Public School and Hayes Park Public School in Wollongong; Bomaderry Public School, Greenwell Point Public School and Sanctuary Point Public School in Shoalhaven; and Barrack Heights Public School and Lake Illawarra South Public School in Shellharbour.
The remaining 77 are located through Western Sydney and the regions, including schools in Broken Hill, Parkes, Taree and Port Macquarie.
Childcare ‘deserts’ cover 28 per cent of NSW in 2024, according to Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute, with 0.4 places per child statewide.
Parts of the Illawarra and South Coast are among the areas with the highest need – in Huskisson and Vincentia there are just 0.05 places per child.
NSW Deputy Premier and Early Education Minister Prue Car said the tender process marks a significant step towards fulfilling her government’s promise to build both schools and preschools “for communities that need them”.
“Since being elected, we have been working to rebuild public education in NSW,” she said.
“With this record pipeline of tenders and projects going to market, we are getting on with the job of delivering new schools and new facilities quicker.”
Jay Weatherill from Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign said the new preschools would help families with young children who faced significant challenges accessing high quality early learning, especially in childcare deserts in regional and remote NSW.
“These new childcare centres in regional areas like Wollongong will give more children a better start to life and ease the cost of living pressures on families by making it easier for parents to return to work if they choose to,” Mr Weatherill said.
“We know that the first five years of a child’s life are critical to their overall cognitive development and children who attend high quality early learning facilities are healthier, have better educational outcomes and are more productive over the course of their lifetimes.”
It comes as the NSW Department of Education prepares to release a ‘pattern book’ of pre-approved designs and architectural plans for building schools and preschools to the construction sector, in a bid to speed up the turnaround time for new educational infrastructure and bypass costly and time-consuming approval processes.
Earlier this year, the NSW government announced it would scrap red tape in the planning system to make it easier to build schools alongside existing TAFE and university sites.
Unlike the government’s ‘pattern book’ for housing, which was open to competition and the entrants now being considered, the school pattern book is being produced internally. Draft renders seen by The Daily Telegraph include specification of materials for staircases and the height of balustrades.
“We are seeking broad industry participation to enable school projects to be delivered more quickly and affordably, while minimising the impact on school communities during construction,” Ms Car said.
“Delivering our record investment in schools and preschools is part of the Minns Government commitment to the best start in life for every child.”
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