Blue Mountains News

Stuart Ayres said this funding is part of the NSW Government’s $42.1 million investment in building new, and expanding existing early childhood services across the State.

“There are more children attending 600 hours of preschool in NSW than ever before,” Stuart Ayres said.

“This is why, as a Government, we need to support services to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is in place to accommodate for the growing number of enrolments in preschools.”

Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said this round of grants will accommodate an additional 230 preschool places across the State.

“Through the creation of more preschool places, even more children in NSW will have access to a top-quality early childhood education, which will set them up for life,” Ms Mitchell said.

“This Government knows how important an early childhood education is on a child’s emotional, social and cognitive development, so it is crucial we support services to nurture kids to be the best they can be in the years before school.”

The Start Strong Capital Works Grants program is open to all not-for-profit community preschools in NSW and can be used to build new services, extend or renovate existing services, or respond to crisis situations.

Applications will be open until early August 2019 and can be submitted via SmartyGrants. For more information, visit the Department of Education website.