And it can’t come soon enough, with the current facility unable to cope with local demand.
Management committee president Stacey Warren said the site was currently at capacity with 78 students, and at least 35 families on a waiting list at any one time.
“Already enrolments for 2021 are at capacity and we have a waiting list, we’re also unable to offer a three-year-old program to the community because of a lack of space,” she said.
Ms Warren said the team was looking to double in size by building a four-room preschool, with a goal to offer programs for three-year-olds, young four-year-olds and prior to school age.
“We’ve had excellent support from councillors in regard to moving towards the new preschool building and we’re extremely grateful for the allocation of land,” she said.
Ms Warren said the construction of the new preschool was estimated to cost more than $7.2 million and was expected to take over 20 months to complete.
The preschool recently applied for $1.5 million in funding through the 2020 NSW Start Strong Capital Works program, with the outcome to be known in the next few months.
“If we’re successful we hope to be in a position to commence building towards the end of next year,” Ms Warren said.
At Murray River Council’s August 25 meeting, councillors approved an amendment to the Local Environment Plan to permit the construction of a child-care centre on the corner of Lignum Lane and Boyes St.
Cr Tom Weyrich said a new centre was “well and truly overdue”.
“Accolades to the people who’ve been running the preschool for some time, they’ve had to endure traffic and noise issues where they’ve been situated,” he said.
When the new Echuca-Moama bridge is completed, Francis St will be reconnected with Perricoota Rd, bringing more traffic past the preschool’s current location.
Cr Gen Campbell said Moama needed a new preschool as soon as possible.
“Given they’re going to open up Francis St, the ability to pick up and drop off in a safe environment is a major consideration,” she said.
“The preschool committee has been committed to building this new preschool for many years and there’s many people that have put in a lot of hard work to even get to this point, so they’re to be commended.”
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