The suburbs getting new and upgraded kindergartens

Several Melbourne suburbs short on childcare have been selected as locations for new or expanded kindergartens, including parts of the city’s north-east and north-west where population growth has been outstripping supply.

The City of Whittlesea and City of Wyndham are among the council areas set to benefit from five new kindergartens being established in Victoria. The areas were identified in a recent study of childcare accessibility in Australia as not keeping up with demand.

The state government will provide more than $24 million in grants to create hundreds of new kinder places.Credit: iStock

On Thursday the Allan government will announce $9 million in funding for Seventh-day Adventist Schools Victoria to help build Mernda Hills Early Learning Centre and $150,000 for Good News Lutheran College to plan an early learning facility at its new Mambourin campus in the City of Wyndham.

Merri-bek City Council, which has forecast a shortfall of more than 300 kindergarten places in the Brunswick area in the next five years, will receive $150,000 towards a combined maternal health and childcare facility for the suburb.

As part of its funding, the council will also undertake a feasibility study for rebuilding the HE Kane Uniting Kindergarten in Hadfield, where childcare accessibility is also stretched thin.

Within the Merri-bek area, Glenroy West Kindergarten is among 10 existing providers receiving funds to expand, as part of Labor’s Building Blocks Capacity Grants.

Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said the more than $24 million in grants would create hundreds of new kindergarten places.

A City of Casey community centre adjacent to a new primary school being established in Cranbourne South has been awarded $6.75 million. It will provide 178 kindergarten places, along with maternal and child health services when it opens in 2026.

Planning is also under way for a new kindergarten on land attached to the Wodonga Senior Secondary College in Victoria’s north.

Childcare facilities set to expand include Deepdene Preschool in Balwyn and the South Castlemaine Kindergarten. Nillumbik Shire Council will receive $122,850 to investigate expanding the Diamond Creek Memorial Kindergarten to help fill a shortage in the area.

In a statement, the state government said the grants would help 10 councils meet future demand for three and four-year-old kindergarten.

Analysis of federal government data by Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute, released on Monday, showed some parts of the state recently had no available childcare places, while other areas had more spots than there were children.

The study calculated childcare places and demand for centre-based services such as long day care and preschool across Australia in March 2024 and September 2020.

Childcare accessibility improved in Victoria over the past four years. In 2020, about 23 per cent of regions in the state were classified as a childcare desert, but by 2024, this had dropped to 14 per cent. Nationwide, the level has fallen from 34 per cent of regions to 24 per cent over the same period.

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