The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder have released their survey regarding child care in our town., The issues they have identified are not unexpected to the families being told daily there are 'no vacancies', however we can now quantify the issue is past crisis point and we welcome the work they have done in this regard.

The survey illustrates, even without the demand for vacation care, there are 537 children needing places in town. Imagine the impact on our 'skills shortage' if we could provide the necessary child care in our cosmopolitan City.

We continually hear stories of the struggle to secure child care for families in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. There were also quality and affordability concerns.  So late last year we quantified what seemed anecdotally to be a major issue for Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Completely overwhelmed by the response, almost 300 families completed the survey and the results have been compiled into a report you can download.


Critically, what this illustrates is in Kalgoorlie-Boulder we need to (at least):

• Support our current centres to upgrade infrastructure and facilities to improve the quality and where possible the number of licensed places.
• Support local child care workforce development, the ensure we have a large pool of highly trained and well supported child care staff.
• Proactively support people who are seeking to establish centres in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
• Consider some innovative and creative ways to expand our child care offerings including school based before and after school care,  a bub desk model, or employer based creche, specific programs to support au pairs in our region and at least one centre with expanded hours and/or ability to better cater for mining based shift work.

​We have been pleased to complete this work pro-bono on behalf of the community, hope it contributes to a productive conversation about improving child care in our town.

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1. Project Planning

•           Identify projects in advance of funding becoming available
•           Start to plan and document information about your project

2. Understand the guidelines and discuss the project with the funding body

•           Most grant bodies want to fund discrete projects, not ongoing costs
•           Some guidelines have strict criteria your project may not meet
•           Before investing too much time, ensure your project is likely to be funded

3. Ensure your application meets the 2 critical factors:

• The concept is good

          What is the issue? (Don’t assume people reading your application will know)
          Why is your project (solution) the best way to address the issue and get a good outcome?

• The funding body has certainty you can deliver the project

          Do you know how much it will cost, how long it will take, who needs to be involved?
          Have you successfully implemented projects in the past?
          Are there any impediments, such as planning permission and other funding not secured?
          How will you manage the delivery of the project and on an ongoing basis?