At a meeting last night, Council agreed to formally consider three options for the future of kindergarten services:

1. Consolidating our kindergarten services from 2024 and increasing hours to 15 hours per week for all 3 and 4 year olds.
2. Providing sessional kindergarten at the Knox Children and Family Centre sites in Bayswater and Wantirna South only and working with the Department of Education and Training (DET) to transition stand-alone kindergartens to new provider/s from January 2025.
3. Ceasing to provide sessional kindergarten and working with DET to transition to new provider/s from January 2025.

Through March and April, a representative community panel will review these options and provide a statement to Council to support its decision making.

Included in the panel’s consideration are details of previous community engagement, in which we asked families, children and residents to share what they value about kindergarten in Knox. A summary of what you told us is attached.

It is expected a final decision will be made in mid-2023, incorporating the panel’s input and the details of our comprehensive service review.