Council President Kirsty McGovern-Hooley says, “Parents often express a desire for students attending early childhood schools to continue their primary education in the same engaging play-based, successful environment that they started in.”

 

“The commitment is the start of a continuous journey for currently enrolled Year 2 students, who are able to remain at Franklin Early Childhood School in Year 3 next year.”

 

“Franklin Early Childhood School P&C consulted with their school community, identifying their needs and raising these with Government,” she said.

 

“This is a great example of a P&C working constructively with their community, school, Council, the Education Directorate and the Education Minister to ensure the needs of the school community are met.”

 

Franklin Early Childhood School P&C President Rachel Walters says, “The P&C and school community are extremely happy with the announcement and look forward to continuing working with the community and school going forward.”

 

“Council looks forward to seeing the transition of early childhood play-based learning into the later primary years 3 to 6” said Kirsty McGovern-Hooley.

 

“This move goes some way towards alleviating the pressures on public schools in the Gungahlin area, but Council remains concerned that there are significant pressures in many parts of the ACT and it is important that the Government allocate sufficient funds for new and expanded schools,” she said.