The Victorian Government is helping our youngest learners get the best start in life, making local kindergartens inclusive for children of all abilities with facility upgrades, specialist equipment and state-of-the-art technology.

Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt today announced more than $3 million in Building Blocks Grants to help over 800 kindergartens improve learning outcomes for every young Victorian child.

The investment includes $2.4 million in the latest round of Building Blocks Inclusion Grants ─ supporting 242 kindergartens to upgrade their facilities or purchase equipment to provide a safe and inclusive learning environment for children of all needs and abilities.

Upgrades include infrastructure in playgrounds to make kinder activities more accessible as well as moveable inclusive education equipment like mobility stools and sensory equipment to support learning programs.

A further 569 kindergartens will also receive IT grants of up to $1,500 from the latest round of the Building Blocks Improvement Grants funding, sharing more than $796,000 in total for technology support.

These IT grants will help pay for new equipment such as computers, iPads and interactive TV aids that can be used for administration or to help deliver learning programs.

Building Blocks is a streamlined overarching funding scheme that supports early childhood providers with new and existing infrastructure and facilities for eligible three and four-year-old kindergarten services.

To find out more about the Building Blocks Grants program, visit schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/Pages/Building-Blocks.

In an Australian-first, the Victorian Government is investing almost $5 billion this decade to provide three-year-old children with access to an additional year of funded kindergarten programs.

From 2022, three-year-old children across the state will have access to at least five hours of kindergarten. Services will then scale up their hours to reach the full 15-hour program by 2029.

As part of the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten roll-out, the Victorian Budget 2021/22 has co-invested $1.68 billion with the early childhood sector to build and expand kindergarten facilities across the state over this decade.