City of Monash Early Years Facilities Plan (Monash City Council, 2013)
The aim of this comprehensive Plan was to provide Monash City Council with a strategic framework for the future provision of early years facilities across the municipality. The plan focuses on Council facilities used for 4 year old kindergarten, the maternal and child health service, long day child care and occasional care. Non-Council facilities such as church or school run kindergartens and private long day child care centres have been included for contextual purposes.
The objectives of the Plan were to: 1)collate all available information about the history and condition of the Council owned early years facilities; 2) assess the suitability of the facilities for their current use in the light of current practices, community expectations and anticipated future need; 3) identify the impact of the new Education and Care Services National Law Act and the Education and Care Services National Regulations and other relevant information upon the suitability and capacity of those early year facilities being used for the provision of care and education to children aged 0-6 years; 4) identify the anticipated need for repair, refurbishment and replacement of Council owned early years facilities over the next 10-15 years plus the challenges in undertaking this work; 5) identify any opportunities for co-location of early years services and/or greater flexibility in the utilisation of early years facilities to best meet the needs of the local community; 6) propose a sustainable strategy for addressing the anticipated needs of early years services operating from Council owned buildings so that Council can effectively manage the upgrading, refurbishment and replacement of these buildings over the next 10-15 years; 7) identify the non-financial issues, challenges and site limitations that will need to be taken into account in the implementation of the proposed strategy.