Families & children
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Liardet Street Family and Children's Centre

Council wants to build an integrated family and children's centre in Port Melbourne and has received funding from both Federal and State governments to deliver this centre for families.

About the proposal

The proposed site is on public land at the corner of Esplanade West and Liardet St, Port Melbourne. Two blocks of land is home to Lady Forster Kindergarten, while another block is currently occupied by vacant council buildings. Council proposes to combine all three blocks for this centre.

Following a request from Council, the State Government has granted the City of Port Phillip management status of the two parcels on which Lady Forster Kindergarten is located to enable this to happen.  Lady Forster Kindergarten would have a home in this new centre, which would also accommodate additional early years care and learning services for families, including Albert Park College Childcare Centre (APCCC).  APCCC is currently located on temporary premises at the Port Melbourne Primary School, and the new centre will provide them a permanent home.

The centre would include a total of 150 registered children's service places made up of:

  • the existing 50 Lady Forster Kindergarten (LFK) places
  • the 35 long day care places of Albert Park College Childcare Centre
  • an additional 65 long day care and playgroup places (draft proposal of 33 additional long day care places and 32 playgroup spaces. Final configuration to be determined on advice from the steering committee.)

 

It would also include:

  • Maternal and child health consulting rooms
  • New parent group space
  • Space for play groups

Both Lady Forster Kindergarten and Albert Park College Childcare would remain community managed services in this proposal.

Council wants to make the site work for as many children and families as possible.  As a Council we want to ensure equality of services offered to children in the municipality and we believe this new family centre will take us closer to that goal.

Three levels of government have committed funding for this proposal made up of: Federal ($1.6M), State ($1.2M), Council ($1.7M). The funding aims to deliver an integrated early years learning and care centre, as research shows integration of services provides positive outcomes for communities, particularly disadvantaged and vulnerable families.