Preschoolers across the Bogan Shire will start the new school year in a new facility in Nyngan’s main street which will eventually cater for up to 50 children in two modern rooms.
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The new Nyngan Preschool is on the corner of Pangee Street and the Tottenham Road in the building which was once the Windmill Tavern.
Co-chair of Yarrabin Outreach Incorporated (which auspices the preschool), Abigail McLaughlin, said the new building would finally enable the service to meet the needs of the community.
“This project has been a long time in the pipeline. In the 10 years I have been involved with preschool there has been a large increase in the number of children wanting to access the service,” Mrs McLaughlin said.
“The old building in Dandaloo Street was only licensed for 25 children a day and there were always waiting lists, especially for three-year-old children. The Federal Government has recommended every child in Australia be able to attend preschool at least two and a half days a week in the year before they start school and we knew Nyngan wasn’t capable of providing that unless we had more space.”
Four years ago Yarrabin decided it was necessary to expand preschool service and considered many options including providing an off-site room and a mobile service.
Eventually the organisation was successful in applying for special NSW Government development funding which allowed for the purchase and renovation of a building.
The biggest challenge was finding a suitable site which could be transformed into a preschool. It took almost 12 months to finally secure the Windmill Tavern and then another 12 months for the final plans to be approved.
“It was an incredibly frustrating time,” Mrs McLaughlin said. “It felt like it was always one step forward and two steps backward, but in the end Nyngan has a beautiful new preschool so it was worth the effort.”
Mrs McLaughlin thanked the many people who have worked on the project. Preschool director Chantelle Finlay and her staff have been directly involved from the start and have recently spent most of their Christmas holidays taking care of the finishing touches so the building can open in time.
“I’d also like to thank former Yarrabin manager Jenny Hargraves who managed to secure the initial funding and set the project in action, and of course the members of the Yarrabin board who have overseen the process.”
“Thank you also to the many preschool parents and friends who helped move the equipment to the new site during the holidays and set up the new furniture, water the turf, and do all those last- minute jobs to enable the building to open in time for the new year.”
The Nyngan Preschool project was site managed by Barnson Engineering and the building work was done by BLD Construction.
The new building has a large indoor space which can be divided into two separate classrooms. There is also a large storage facility, spacious staff offices and two rooms which will eventually be used to provide specialist speech, physiotherapy and other early intervention services.
There is also a large outdoor play space which will eventually be specially landscaped and include modern play equipment.
The increased space will enable children to attend preschool for more days a week and will also allow children from the age of three to attend for at least one whole day a week. Yarrabin Outreach Incorporated is a non-profit organisation committed to providing services for young children and people with disabilities across north-west NSW.
