By Alesha Capone
A site has been acquired to build a proposed $6.6 million early learning centre in Windermere, an estate being built in Mambourin.
The estate, being developed by Country Garden Australia, will consist of about 4700 homes.
The land for the proposed centre, which is set to have the capacity for 134 children, will be on the corner of Callaway Street and Ingalls Road.
A proposal for the centre is being prepared to be lodged with the Department of Education and Training Victoria.
Named Colours Early Learning, the centre will join two public primary schools, one public secondary school and a private combined primary and secondary school, which already feature in Windermere’s master plan.
The early learning centre will be run by independent operator VIC and NSW Childcare Propriety Ltd, which plans to open the centre in two years.
The proposed centre will operate from 6.30am until 6.30pm weekdays.
VIC and NSW Childcare co-founder Tim Tasci said: “With all things being equal, we plan to open for enrollments late 2020 and commence operations in 2021.”
“Having operated several other early learning centre brands in the past, I am very familiar with the standard curriculum mandated by government that we must deliver, but
we plan to differentiate Colours Early Learning by having a strong focus on culture too,” he said.
“By ‘culture’, we mean art and music, with a dedicated space being provided for this, as well as offering the teaching of different languages, that will be consistent with Windermere’s buyer demographic.
“We are assuming our diploma-certified educators will come from the local community, and possibly even live within Windermere.
“And we are cognisant that Windermere will be a colourful community with residents of all sorts of ethnicities and backgrounds and plan for our team to reflect this too.”
Plans for the Windermere estate show it will be home to an estimated 14,800 residents.
