Update: Yarriambiack chief executive Jessie Holmes said the shire's kindergarten coordinators are awaiting direction from the government to determine the best way to deliver program.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"Currently our three-year-old and four-year-old kinder programs are on their scheduled Easter holiday break," she said.
"We will be advised by the Department of Education over the next week if they will return as scheduled after Easter or if they are to remain closed for a longer period."
Earlier: The West Wimmera Shire Council has cancelled its three-year-old kindergarten program for the rest of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corporate and community services director Ashley Roberts said while many families were affected by the announcement, the health and safety of staff and the community was paramount.
"This is not a decision we have made lightly," he said.
"We cancelled the three-year-old program to reduce the number of children in the kindergarten.
"We only have a finite amount of space in the kinder.
"It would have been difficult to have strong supervision of the children and still maintain social distancing.
"We don't want our teachers getting sick because the flow-on effect would be massive."
The three-year-old program does not receive government funding and is run voluntarily alongside the four-year-old program.
Mr Roberts said the four-year-old program would continue to run, either in the classroom or online, under the guidance of the state government.
"We will let everybody know as soon as possible once we have direction," he said.
"The four-year-old program is a state-mandated program, so we must run it, whereas the three-year-old program is not.
"Cancelling the three-year-old program is one of the things we can do to minimise the risk to the community."
Mr Roberts said the three-year-old kindergarten was a result of community feedback, which had stated the program would be useful.
The state government will fund the program from 2021.
In March, Northern Grampians Shire Council closed its St Arnaud Early Learning Centre to protect staff and the community.
Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and Northern Grampians each receive three-year-old kinder funding from the state government.
From 2022, three-year-olds across the state will have access to five hours in a kindergarten program led by a teacher.
The hours will then increase up to the full 15-hour program by 2029.
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe for the Wimmera Mail-Times here, for the Stawell Times-News here, and for the Ararat Advertiser here