The community panel met for its third session last Thursday 23 March. The session started with a visit from Council CEO Bruce Dobson to respond to questions raised in session 2 around Council's budget and how this impacts service funding.

The panel then finalised the principles they developed last session to guide their assessments, including factors such as flexibility to be responsive to community needs, informing and educating families about kindergarten, ensuring local access and choice for families and monitoring and advocating for high quality standards.

Then the group used these principles to assess each of the three options for kindergarten in detail.

The panel will meet for the final time on Saturday 1 April to develop its statement for Council.