Currently the City of Greater Bendigo supports the development of three and four-year-old children through service provision and management of early years infrastructure. The City provides Maternal and Child Health services (MCH); owns and operates two long day care centres (LDCs); and owns or acts as committee of management under delegation from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) for another 16 kindergarten services across Greater Bendigo. These centres are operated by not-for-profit organisations.

The City does not currently have an EYIS to support the existing and future provision of early years services. The EYIS will:

• Explain the City of Greater Bendigo’s evidence-based approach to early years infrastructure planning and delivery.

• Define Council’s role in planning, developing and maintaining early years infrastructure.
• Provide an overview of early years infrastructure in Greater Bendigo – both council and non-council owned;

• Assess the suitability of the council-owned and managed facilities for early years services, considering current practices, community expectations and anticipated future need;

• Provide an overview of future demand for early years infrastructure, particularly with the introduction of funded three-year-old kindergarten in 2022.

• Guide decision making on future early years infrastructure projects, funding requirements and advocacy requirements.
• Align with the goals and strategic objectives of the Community Hubs Strategy being developed which is an important input into Council’s future strategic planning and reporting requirements per the Local Government Act 2020.

As part of our community engagement for the draft Early Years Infrastructure Strategy the City is collecting information about Early Years Infrastructure to:

• Understand what is important to the community in an early years facility – Kindergarten, Maternal and Child Health Centre, Early Learning/Long Day Care Centre.
• Find out what influences the communities, decision when choosing an Early Years facility.
• Learn how families currently access kindergarten programs.
• Learn about what are the barriers to participation in early years services and what could make it easier for children to participate?

You can help us develop the strategy by completing the survey and following the project on Let’s Talk.

Your survey responses will help inform the City develop the Draft Early Years Infrastructure Strategy for the municipality and assist with our planning of Early Years services for the future.

We are seeking input from the community with a focus on;

• Parents/caregivers with children currently attending 3 or 4-year-old kinder
• Parents/caregivers of children attending Long Day Care

• Parents/caregivers who use Maternal and Child Health facilities
• Anyone who may have children attending kinder in the future.
• Early Years Educators
• Maternal and Child Health Nurses