2019 Aussie Cotton Farmers Grow Communities grant recipient: Jandowae Kindergarten
About
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Category
- Community Programs
- News
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Date
02 July, 2020
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Location
Darling Downs, Queensland
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About
Category
- Community Programs
- News
Date
02 July, 2020
Location
Darling Downs, Queensland
The Darling Downs town of Jandowae is home to a strong cotton growing farming industry. The Jandowae Kindergarten is a strong pillar of the local education program, supporting 22 children, including many from farming families. In this video, Jandowae Kindergarten President, Naomi Black describes how the grant helped to purchase a new cubby house that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to purchase.
t takes a lot of hard work to establish and maintain a successful kindergarten, with the Darling Downs town of Jandowae being a perfect example. Surrounded by agriculture, including a strong cotton farming industry, Jandowae provides many services to farming families, including the kindy.
“It provides an educational program for many children that come from farming families and children that live in the town,” Jandowae Kindergarten President Naomi Black explains.
“22 children attend this kindergarten, so we're at full capacity, which is a great thing for this community. It's wonderful too that parents that work in our town have this service, so that they're able to go to work and support this community.”
The kindergarten was successfully nominated by local cotton grower Ashley Tunks from One Tree Agriculture for an Aussie Cotton Farmers Grow Communities grant in 2019, and the $5,000 funding for a new cubby house was very welcome.
Mr Tunks, who is Northern Aggregation Farm Manager for One Tree Agriculture, first heard about the grant process through the Darling Downs Cotton Growers Association and knew it would be a natural fit.
“I first thought about putting the kindy forward for the grant as it's such a big part of the community. We’re a big farming region, so a lot of farming families use the kindy, including my own staff, and my kids attended last year too,” Ashley explains.
“The grants for the community are a big help with buying important items to keep them going, like the cubby house that they normally wouldn't be able to purchase.”
Naomi emphasises how lucky the kindergarten committee felt to have One Tree nominate the kindergarten for the grant.
“We were very grateful for the opportunity to access this grant and it’s turned out to be such a wonderful outcome for our kindergarten,” she says.
The 2019 management committee at Jandowae Kindergarten settled on the idea of a new cubby house as the old one was deteriorated from weather damage. The new cubby house is also future-proofed to be wheelchair accessible.
“We bought it to have an inclusive environment for children at the kindergarten, so that they are able to use it for a range of activities, and they have been enjoying it thoroughly,” she says.
“It can be set up as a café for example, or as a house, it just enables the children to be able to use their initiative and imagination in an inclusive zone at the kindergarten. It's a wonderful asset for this community kindergarten.”
Naomi agrees with Ashley about the importance of the grant opportunity, without which they wouldn’t have been able to purchase the new cubby house in 2019.
“It's grants like this through The Bayer Fund and FRRR that we're able to be successful in providing a well-equipped kindergarten for country children, like children in the city have,” she says.
“They get these opportunities, and country children are able to now as well, through this grant that we've been given, so they're not missing out on this wonderful opportunity of having new equipment.
“On behalf of the Jandowae Kindergarten staff and management committee, I really would like to express our sincere gratitude to Bayer, FRRR, and One Tree Agriculture for making this possible for the Jandowae Kindergarten.”
About
Category
- Community Programs
- News
Date
02 July, 2020
Location
Darling Downs, Queensland