Mildura Rural City Council has started consulting with local families, educators and the broader community to explore a potential transition out of direct delivery of early years education services in the future.
These services have been provided by Mildura Rural City Council since the late 1970s through Mildura Family Day Care and Playalong Early Learning Centre.
General Manager Healthy Communities Mark Jenkins said while these services have been delivered successfully for decades, the early years education landscape has changed drastically during this time.
“Firstly, I want to stress there will be no immediate changes to any of the early years services we provide,” Mr Jenkins said.
“This is very much about two-way communication. It’s about presenting local families, our educators and the broader community with an update on the challenges facing our early years services and listening to their feedback and thoughts on what the future could look like.”
Mr Jenkins said one of the biggest shifts in the sector since Council initially started providing these services almost 50 years ago was demand and the sheer number of providers.
“We’ve gone from being one of the only providers of childcare services in our region to a market where there are more and more operators.”
Council contacted all Playalong Early Learning Centre and Mildura Family Day Care families, staff and educators this week, providing an update and inviting them to participate in a series of upcoming consultation sessions and surveys to provide their thoughts.
This feedback will be considered ahead of a report presented to Councillors next month.
