Families and staff at the Sandhills Early Childhood Centre are celebrating a $255,000 refurbishment of the facility at Byron Bay .
The Hon. Ben Franklin, MLC and Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and the Arts, officially opened the improvements on 19 October 2019 in front of dozens of families attending the Centre’s art show.
The improvements, which included upgrades to learning spaces, the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry were funded via a grant from the NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities Fund (SCCF).
Janelle Rapley, Byron Shire Council’s Children’s Services Coordinator, said the grant has made an incredible difference to the centre, which was in desperate need of an upgrade.
“Sandhills is a not-for-profit community childcare centre which has a committed parents’ committee and for many years has been offering play-based early childhood education to thousands of children in Byron Bay,” Ms Rapley said.
“The refurbishment of the centre has made an incredible improvement to our learning spaces for the children and staff are delighted as well,” she said.
“We currently have 95 children enrolled here and we offer a preschool program as well as a long day care service for children from five months old to six years old.
“As we are a not-for-profit organisation the news that we had received the Stronger Country Communities grant was just fantastic and it has meant we have been able to get the centre looking amazing so we can continue to support children in Byron Bay,” Ms Rapley said.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro congratulated the Byron Shire community on the newly renovated Sandhills Early Childhood Centre, which was made possible via the NSW Government’s SCCF.
“The Sandhills Early Childhood Centre provides a valuable service to growing families in the Byron Shire and the NSW Government was delighted to help upgrade this amazing community facility,” Mr Barilaro said.
“We look forward to Sandhills continuing to care for the youngest members of the Byron Bay community for many years to come.
“The SCCF was created to deliver infrastructure that improves the lives of local residents and this refurbishment is just one of the hundreds of projects being built and delivered across regional NSW.”
