General News
24 February, 2026
New early learning centre a “game changer” for locals, slated for 2027 opening
Works at the brand-new early learning centre in Avoca are now underway, providing more local families access to high-quality education close to home.
Construction at Avoca’s early learning centre will be a first for the community, opening to long day care, three year old kindergarten, and pre prep programs.
Member for Ripon Martha Haylett officially turned the first sod to mark the start of construction at Early Learning Victoria Avoca (interim name) last Friday, marking the beginning of construction of the site, expected to be completed at the start of 2027.
With space for 57 local children, the centre will have an outdoor play area, a maternal and child health consulting room, a car park and a community room for meetings and playgroup.
Ms Haylett said the new site greatly helps the ‘childcare desert’ of regional communities.
“We haven’t had any childcare in Avoca, so this is meaning we are fixing the childcare desert we have,” she said.
“Several years ago, this really came to a head when parents came to me and said ‘we desperately need a childcare in Avoca, we have nothing’. This has filled a huge gap ... it is a game changer for families in Avoca.”
Positioning the kindergarten next to Avoca Primary School is part of a broader deliberate move to situate centres at schools to help parents avoid the double drop-off.
Once completed, it will make childcare and early learning accessible and convenient for working parents and carers, and makes the transition to school easier for some children.
“To have it on the site of the primary school is such a good move for families, you avoid the double drop off, you help the kids with their transition to school,” Ms Haylett said.
“They are going to see the other kids across the fence and be able to much more easily transition into foundation and their later years, it’s really good for families but also for kids .”
There is an urge for locals considering a career in early childhood education to inquire at working at the site, which is expected to be open as soon as next year.
“Anyone who is thinking about wanting to be an educator and working in early learning, they should definitely get in touch with the shire or myself, we can give them some details. We are looking for educators, there is going to be about 12 staff who are going to look after kinder from next year,” Ms Haylett said.
With Avoca already home to a small pre school, she said the centre will not impose on its operation, and instead give local families more choice.
“It won’t affect the current Avoca kindergarten, this one will be sessional kinder, so it will be longer days. They will be a different offering, and there will be 30 or more spots at the Avoca kinder, as well as the 57 places,” she said.
“In other towns, we have merged the early learning centre and the current kinder, we aren’t doing that here in Avoca, it just means we are going to have even more kinder places.”
From 2026, four-year-old kinder-garten will transition to pre-prep in the Pyrenees Shire, with children eligible to receive 16 to 20 hours of pre-prep.
“The current parents have struggled, but having this will be an asset for years to come which will hopefully encourage more young families to make Avoca home, because they know they have a local childcare option,” Ms Haylett said.
The centre is one of 50 early learning centres that will share in approximately $14 billion as part of the Victorian Government’s Best Start, Best Life reform.
The state government is investing billions to build and expand hundreds of kindergartens across the state, supporting the delivery of 15 hours of three-year-old kinder-garten each week by 2029 and up to 30 hours of pre-prep each week by 2036.