The Honeypot Child Care Centre at Koroit is a 27-place centre and will open up 11 of those for a new kinder program in 2017.

The Koroit and District Kindergarten, which is in its 50^th year, has more than 60 spots for next year. 

Honeypot co-owner and kindergarten teacher Rebecca Perry said the new program was in addition to its Warrnambool kinder offering.

“We’ve found there’s been a real demand from parents asking ‘do you do the same at the Koroit centre?” Mrs Perry said. 

“The parents have really driven this change. We only bought the centre two years ago. Our plan was to settle in for three to five years before introducing a kinder program. Since we bought the building, parents have been asking about a kinder program.”

The private operator said eight families had expressed interest and she expects there will be a waiting list for places.

“We’ll keep it at 11 spots so there’s enough places for daycare. We want to be able to provide both services. 

“Because it’s such a small group, the program is individualised and specialised to that individual child.”

The program will run for two days-a-week from 8.30am to 4.30pm, meeting the weekly 15-hour requirement Victorian kinder programs must provide.

Mrs Perry said the education department had given its approval and they were in the process of getting quotes to extend the existing building. 

The new room will be added during the summer holidays while the centre is closed.

Mrs Perry said the town’s growth fuelled the demand for a second kinder. Koroit and District Primary School also added a new classroom this term to cater for increased enrollments. 

Koroit and District Kindergarten committee of management co-president Tammy Langdon said 2017 enrollments were strong.

This is the second year the service has provided after-kinder care which she said was overwhelmingly popular with working parents. “Our focus was to keep people in our own community because a lot of people work in Warrnambool,” Mrs Langdon said.