A purpose-built early learning centre featuring five indoor playrooms and a landscaped outdoor play area with sand pit, bike track, water play and vegie patches will be launched in Alexandria next week.
The newly-constructed centre is one of three being built this year by the City of Sydney that together will provide 220 much-needed places and help meet the demand of inner-city families.
The new Huntley Street Early Learning Centre in Alexandria will be officially opened by Lord Mayor Clover Moore on Saturday 23 July.
The Lord Mayor said that with more families choosing to live in the inner city, the City had committed to meeting current and future demand for child care.
“We are using every lever at our disposal to meet the demand for child care in our city, from planning approvals through to our own construction budgets,” the Lord Mayor said.
“Since June 2013, there has been a net increase of 967 new operating places and more than 2,500 places in the development pipeline. Overall it’s an increase of more than 3,500 places, which means we are on track to meet the demand for new spaces – making the City of Sydney one of the few governments in Australia to prioritise and meet this important need.”
The City’s 2013 childcare needs study identified a shortfall of 3,100 places that year, estimated to climb to a 3,400-place gap by 2016 if action was not taken.
In response, the City committed $56.1 million for the development of new centres, with excess funds set aside for future spaces.
The Huntley Street Early Learning Centre will be run by Goodstart Early Learning, Australia’s largest early learning providers and not-for-profit social enterprise offering high quality early education and care for over 71,500 children across Australia.
Goodstart CEO, Julia Davison, said the new Alexandria centre offered a quiet and safe inner-city oasis for young children to learn and explore, with state of the art technology and educational resources.
“Partnering with City of Sydney to provide much-needed, affordable long day care and preschool programs aligns with our commitment to ensuring all Australia’s children have access to high quality early learning, giving them the best possible start in life,” she said.
“Goodstart is committed to enhancing outcomes for children in vulnerable circumstances and will provide priority access to children with additional support needs, children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds and children who speak a language at home other than English.
“We aim to create a centre that is a highly valued part of the inner west community.” The Huntley Street centre is accepting enrolments now and is expected to be operating by September 2016.
The two other centres built by the City and also offering enrolments are East Sydney Early Learning Centre at 277 Bourke Street in Darlinghurst, and The Crescent Early Learning Centre at 7 Chapman Road in Annandale. Both these centres are also due to open by September.
The City is also building the Waranara Early Education Centre at Joynton Avenue, Zetland that will provide 74 additional places. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2017.
The public is welcome to attend the official opening of the Huntley Street Early Learning Centre:
DATE: Saturday 23 July
TIME: midday to 2pm
ADDRESS: 4H Huntley St, Alexandria
For enrolments enquiries: phone 1800 222 543
goodstart.org.au/centres/alexandria-huntley-st/overview
For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Advisor Belinda Wallis on 0467 810 160 or bwallis@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Paul Mackay on 0432 182 647 or pmackay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au