Pyrenees Shire Council: Avocoa Children’s Centre
Posted under: In April 2013, the Pyrenees Shire completed development of its first class, multi-function integrated children’s centre designed to meet the early childhood education and care needs of the Avoca community.
The Council of Australian Governments endorsement of the ‘Early Years Leaning Framework’ in July 2009 was the catalyst for this development. The Framework was set to change the way early year’s education was delivered across Australia and indeed across the Pyrenees Shire. At this time, as identified in the Pyrenees Shire Council’s Municipal Early Years Plan 2008-11, the services across the Shire were deemed inadequate to effectively transition to meet National Standards and as a result, the Avoca Children’s Centre was created. The Project cost just over $1.5 million and was funded by the Pyrenees Shire Council, Victorian Local Government Infrastructure Fund, Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Regional Development Victoria – Putting Locals First and the Avoca Branch of the Bendigo Bank. The Centre was purpose designed by Morten Dunn Architects, Ballarat in close collaboration with the community and early year’s providers.
2.0 Description of project
The Centre was developed on the existing Preschool site. The site was chosen because of its proximity to the centre of town. It was relatively flat and of sufficient size to accommodate new development and importantly offered the capacity to retain the play areas, which was a strong wish of the Avoca Preschool parent committee.
The site was considered to have sufficient outdoor space to meet the new National Quality Standards and furthermore it was owned by Council and appropriately zoned.
2.1 Project objectives
The Project objectives were to;
– Improve community connectedness by enhancing the liveability of the Shire.
The Avoca community developed a Community Action Plan in 2009-10. The need to improve community connectedness, embrace the principles of lifelong learning and develop current child care facilities were identified as the highest priority. An integrated children’s centre was considered a way to address some of these needs.
– Develop social infrastructure and services to provide for and encourage growth, investment and employment opportunities in the area. In 2006, the population of Avoca (the broader Avoca area) was 927 with 79 children under five years of age. According to the ABS, Avoca is one of the most disadvantaged areas in Australia (ABS – Socio Economic Indices for Areas, 2006). New infrastructure and services help to address this disadvantage.
– Improve the health and wellbeing of children and families living in Pyrenees Shire.
The Centre helps families to support their children and improve early childhood care, education and health outcomes.
– Increase the number of families engaging with early year’s services
The percentage of children assessed at key developmental stages was not consistent with national averages and by offering a central location with a variety of services including Maternal and Child Health, Family Day Care, Preschool and playgroup services, the rates of children assessments should improve.
– Ensure Avoca’s early years services meet the new Framework and National Quality Standards.
Consultation with service providers and the community identified inadequacies of the previous preschool facility. It was not built for purpose and transitioning to Universal Access (15 hours kindergarten per child) and the National Standard and accommodating for increased demand required redevelopment or new construction.
2.2 Project outcomes
After considerable community consultation and analysis of best practice models, an integrated children’s services centre was created.
The facility acts as a service hub by bringing together a range of professionals to operate in a shared facility. Practitioners work in a multi-agency way to provide services and support to children and families. The community benefits of such a model are significant.
Even in the short time that the Centre has been operating, some immediate outcomes have been realised including an already strong sense of community connectedness.
The Kindergarten, Playgroup and Family Day Care services have combined to invite parenting advisors to run public sessions on popular topics. These sessions have been well attended and will continue in the future, demonstrating ownership and pride by the community in the service and indeed their town.
Project outcomes include;
– An increase in the number of key ages and stages visits, as the onsite maternal and child health nurse is available as parents drop older children off for kindergarten, family day care or playgroup.
– An unanticipated benefit reported is the Nurse’s ability to observe the children outside of a normal appointment structure. This has proved extremely useful in picking up various issues that did not present in a short appointment.
– The nurse’s ability to have visiting services drop in to the building to provide additional and specialist services to clients.
2.3 Innovative features of the project
Working with community members, early years service providers and Council officers throughout the design phase resulted in many new features being added. These features make the facility a modern and innovative space for children to learn and grow and include;
– a new sand play area
– separate swings
– two new digging patches
– stage decks
– weaving frames
– storytime lawn
– grassed kick-about space
– outdoor kitchen play area
– minature forest
– toddler tactile floor
– veggie garden
The building was designed around the existing garden and play equipment, much of which had been constructed by family members throughout the years and the kindergarten committee was reluctant to discard them. This required the building design and landscaping (see image 3 below) to creatively fit around existing materials and the designers and landscapers needed to be sympathetic to the needs of current users.
The design also considered Environmental Design Principles and included as much natural light as possible with the inclusion of a full wall of windows to the floor on the wall facing the playground. This not only capitalizes on the amount of natural light, but also provides children with full outdoor viewing at all times.
Two other significant features of the Centre include the Community Room and the Consulting/Meeting Room. Both of these multipurpose spaces have been included to maximise community engagement opportunities. The Community Room (see image below) is a multipurpose room that can link to the indoor and outdoor areas. It is suitable for large meetings, information sessions, activities and functions and the space is appropriate for other Council services to utilise such as the Avoca Library service which has offered story time and Children’s Week activities.
The Consulting Room was integral in achieving an integrated services model. It provides a space for facility users to have contact with health professionals and increases the ability of service providers to make earlier identification of disorders or conduct concerns that parents or carers may have about their child. The building design also incorporated solar back-up to the gas hot water systems and using recycled water to flush the sanitary system.
2.4 Distinguishing features of the project or service highlighting best practice engineering principles and technologies
The facility design has been informed by the Victorian Children’s Services Regulations 1999 (Amended), the National Quality Standard Quality Area 3 – Physical Environment, as well as the ratios for each age group which will be introduced in 2016. The main objective was for the physical environment to be safe, suitable and provide a rich and diverse range of experiences which promote children’s learning and development. The design responded to this objective and distinguishing features include outdoor spaces that include natural elements and materials which allow for multiple uses, indoor spaces, buildings, furniture, equipment, facilities and resources are suitable for their purpose. Integrated services are known to deliver the best outcomes for a community. The integrated Children’s Centre acts as a service hub for the community by bringing together a range of services to operate in a shared facility. Practitioners work in a multi-agency way to provide services and support to children and families. In addition, through services and flexible spaces, the Centre promotes linkages to broader health promotion and community health services and activities. This integrated service delivers a state of the art service, modelled on best practice principles, to the Avoca community.
2.5 Benefit to the community of the project or service
Local children’s hubs providing connectedness for communities and families have been successfully implemented across many shires and the Avoca Children’s Centre is no exception and community and economic benefits are already evident.
The Avoca Children’s Centre has proven to be a feasible, viable and sustainable facility for the Avoca community and the Pyrenees Shire Council to enrich the community.
This multi-use Centre was designed to maximise utilisation, in order to promote economic viability. The co-location of services enables the cost of utilities to be shared, further improving the economic viability of the complex.
The co-location of children’s services enables cross discipline collaboration within the centre and linkages with other services, which has proven to broaden knowledge and skills, and enhance service delivery.
There are many potential long term benefits for the community and local economy through the creation of this valuable asset that have not yet been realised. These include improved access to services, attracting settlement through multi-purpose, high quality social infrastructure and promoting community development, up-skilling, health and wellbeing.
2.6 Program and project management
One of the issues faced was the need to alter the design of the building to fit on the existing block of land and work around existing playground equipment and garden. The new building is three times the size of the previous building on the same block with the same playground and garden.
Another barrier which was successfully overcome by Council was the complex funding model and application process. Combining five different funding sources and having the applications submitted and approved within the appropriate timelines was a challenge. A number of applications were reliant on the other and if an application had been declined, the project would not have come to life.
Council anticipated and planned for some challenges with regards to the complex stakeholder management plan. Community support was overwhelming and although Council initially believed it would face difficulties in gaining agreement from a range of user groups with respect to design, colours, materials and more would be a challenge, the process was managed openly and user groups were delighted with the outcome.
2.7 Costs/Benefits associated with the Project
Ongoing sustainability of the Centre has been ensured through state government recurrent funding for the preschool program, kindergarten management through YMCA Kindergarten Cluster Management, government support for the Family Day Care service, local and state government funding for the Maternal and Child Health and service, and Pyrenees Shire Council support with building maintenance and other recurrent expenditure.
Funding source Contribution
Pyrenees Shire Council $150,000
Victorian Local Government Infrastructure Fund $640,000
Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development $529,901
Regional Development Victoria – Putting Locals First $150,000
Avoca Community Bank Branch of the Bendigo Bank $60,000
Total $1,529,901