Kids in playground Hunt

By Lia Bichel
CHILDREN in the Hunt Club estate will have plenty to play about with the construction of a new multi-million dollar children’s centre.
Casey has allocated $12.9 million to a range of children’s services for parents, infants and children for 2009-2010.
An additional $2.3 million will be spent on building The Hunt Club Integrated Early Years Centre on Broad Oak Drive, Cranbourne East.
The centre will have a Maternal and Child Health service, playgroups, a double kindergarten, and consultation suites for other agencies offering professional support.
The kindergarten sessions are expected to run for five hours each and provide services for about 108 children.
“The Maternal and Child Health service is a vital component of the children’s centre and will provide individual assessments and support, as well as facilitating parents’ groups,” City of Casey Manager Children’s Services Colette McMahon said.
“The Maternal and Child Health service will be accessing the multi-purpose room to provide a new mothers’ group, lactation support, toddler behaviour support, toilet training assistance, sleep and settling support and age and stage development parent training.”
Ms McMahon said she anticipates the multi-purpose rooms will be used by a number of City of Casey programs, community groups and service providers.
The children’s centre is expected to open at the beginning of term 2, 2010.