Increasing number of young families from cities making a tree change are moving to regional areas leading to an increase in the demand for preschools for their children.
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The Braidwood Preschool, which can currently accommodate 30 students, recently received funding worth $520,000 from the NSW Government and an expansion is on the way.
"We will build a second room at the preschool with this funding that will create 20 additional places for our local children which will be a huge improvement for the community," Angela Backhouse, president of the Pre-School committee said.
The preschool already has a waitlist of 30 children and there is a demand from parents of current students for additional days.
"The expansion has been on the cards for the last couple of years fuelled by growing population. We are now seeing an increase in younger families moving to town or returning to town so there is definitely a shift happening in the population."
Meanwhile, Kim Brodrick, director of Bungendore Preschool, said that she already had to turn away several eligible children because they were packed to capacity.
"The situation for next year looks similar. This year, we could only accommodate 71 children and there are 130 children already on the waitlist for next year," she said.
She feels that young families moving to the area and new development in the pipeline has added to the growing demand.
"Many parents are unable to put their children in preschool in Bungendore so they end up doing so in Canberra and sometimes relocating there if parents are travelling there for work," she added.
Meanwhile, Nicky McCarthy, managing director of Queanbeyan and District Preschool Association said that they are pleased to progress a project to establish a new three preschool classroom in Queanbeyan, with the assistance of a grant from the NSW Government.
"We see this has great potential to help address the current significant, and growing, unmet need for preschool places in the Queanbeyan district. More local families than ever want their children to experience the educational and social benefits of participation in preschool," Ms McCarthy said.
"The unmet need is also a consequence of strong growth in the Queanbeyan population over the past decade (which is projected to continue going forward), combined with historic under-investment in preschool infrastructure."
