Albury Preschool and Lavington's Ross Circuit Preschool boosted by $2.1 million from NSW government

Albury Preschool has been awarded $1.8 million to construct an additional two classrooms and also offer allied health, maternal and therapy services all under the one roof.

Director Jo Barton said the early childhood education provider had a waitlist of 300 and children often had to be registered before their second birthday to be guaranteed a place, but the upgrades would address that by doubling its size.

"It's going to mean that we can create another 150 places across the week," she said.

"We're still getting daily phone calls from people that are moving to the area that can't find either preschool or long daycare positions.

"It'll just be great to ensure that we can fit a lot more children in.

"We're hoping to provide a wraparound approach where we can include allied health services, maternal health and therapies here too, so it's a one-stop shop for early childhood care and education."

Ms Barton is hopeful the work will be completed by the start of 2025.

Meanwhile, Lavington's Ross Circuit Preschool was given more than $300,000 from the state government for an extra classroom and long-awaited refurbishments of its 45-year-old building.

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"For our community in Lavington, we don't need huge numbers, we just need a better facility with a slight increase in numbers to provide what we already do in a more friendly and contemporary environment," director Cathy Northam said.

"We have maternal child health, playgroup and preschool.

"You don't keep a preschool running by parents and volunteers for 45 years unless it's needed.

"We can take 60 children a day, but this will allow us to have 75."

Albury MP Justin Clancy said the funding addressed a demand for early childhood education and would give more children the best possible start in life.

"This funding is so important for our families, we know the importance of accessible early education and these grants aim to increase this," Mr Clancy said.

Albury Council will provide $50,000 for the design element of the Albury Preschool project and Ms Barton was hopeful a further $450,000 would be allocated by the council in the next two years.

"It's certainly exciting and knowing that the state government has backed it as well certainly makes it very favorable for council to continue to look at what we can do to help out," Albury mayor Kylie King said.

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