Yea Primary School Kindergarten (interim name)

There is increasing demand for kindergarten services in Yea. The new kindergarten will be able to offer kindergarten to up to 33 local children at a time.

Building this kindergarten on the school site will help some local children make a smoother transition into primary school. It can also make the drop-off time simpler for some families.

The VSBA considered many factors when selecting the site for the new kindergarten.

These included:

• kindergarten design principles and regulations
• the needs of the primary school, including the oval and play space
• site features and conditions
• local context, including car parking and trees
• input from local stakeholders including the school, council as well as regional and departmental members
• neighbouring properties.

The selected site allows for a north-facing orientation of the building and the play space, which reflects early years design best practices.

The kindergarten playground has also been located to minimise noise from the outdoor learning area for adjoining neighbours.

The VSBA and external architects investigated several potential sites on the primary school grounds when planning the kindergarten.

The VSBA investigated a more northern siting, near Anne Street, but unfortunately this area cannot fit a one-room building, regulation size play space and associated car parking without encroaching onto the tennis courts and school oval. It would also be difficult to move existing services and infrastructure such as a large water tank, sheds and tennis court entry.

The curve in the road would limit visibility and impact safe parking and vehicle access.

This area also has several mature trees of high retention value.

Care has been taken to keep as many of the existing healthy trees on the site as possible. The culturally significant red river gum tree will be retained on the site. Other trees will be removed only to make way for the new building and for children’s safety. The VSBA will plant 2 trees of a comparable species for every tree we need to remove.

Established native trees are being planted within the kindergarten’s front landscaping, alongside a dedicated pathway to and from the kinder entry point from Mary Street. The school is also receiving seven fruit trees, which will be used as an orchard.

The car park has been designed as per Australian car parking standards. This includes indenting the car park into the school grounds to allow for cars to reverse safely on to Mary Street.

To support traffic management, we will provide 10 dedicated car parking spaces which is 3 more than the standard scope required for a service of this size.

We are building this kindergarten using modular construction.

One of the benefits of modular construction is that on-site construction works are minimal, reducing time on site, noise and dust. This will reduce the impact of the building process on nearby residents and the school.

The kindergarten modules are prepared off-site, and then craned into place. You can learn more about modular construction on our Modular kindergarten buildings webpage.

A process to appoint a service provider to operate the new kindergarten is currently underway.

Details for registering for the waitlist will be updated on this VSBA project page when available. Council will also share enrolment information with the local community in the coming months.

The kinder is expected to open for the start of Term 1, 2025.