Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback on the community's satisfaction with and use of early years services in Hepburn Shire. The survey was designed to built to raise awareness, inform, correct misinformation, create a baseline of local context to be used to assist in future planning. The survey has now closed.

Minister for Early Childhood announced ‘Best Start, Best Life’ - a new initiative for Early Childhood providers which includes:

- Making kindergarten free for three- and four-year olds in participating services across the state

- Transitioning Four-Year-old Kindergarten to ‘Pre-Prep’, a universal, 30-hour a week program of play-based learning Hepburn is in the roll out for 2028 to increase 4 year old kinder to 30 hours a week.

- Establishing 50 government-owned and affordable childcare centres across Victoria.

For more info: The Best Start, Best Life reforms | Victorian Government