FAQs

Consultation with the community and key stakeholders including service providers and State Government representatives occurred during the development of the Indigo Shire Council Early Years Strategy 2020-2025; as part of the development of the Beechworth Early Years Hub Feasibility Report (Perkins Architects) and the Early Years Hub Assessment of Potential Locations Report (Community Vibe) which highlights the critical need for increased early years services capacity and looks at options for future early years services facilities.

Consultation with the community prior to the EOI did not occur as the use of the Mayday Hills Centre was not going to change as a result of the EOI process.   

The EOI process is a tool used by Council officers to assess and determine preferred applicants across various contexts. Examples include occupancy/leases of publicly owned assets or community representation on advisory panels or committees. This structured approach provides a framework that is transparent, fair in its assessment criteria, and competitive to attract quality applications. 

As outlined in the EOI information pack, each prospective applicant was asked to provide letters of support, references and any additional supporting documentation the applicant felt was relevant to the EOI, which presented the opportunity to share community feedback, support and sentiment.

Alpine Children's Services will be the lessee of the Mayday Hills facility as of 1 January 2026.

As the transition process progresses, more information will become available in regard to the exact details of service availability as of 1 January 2026.

Places are based on an equation stipulated by the government on the usable inside and outside space. ACS intends to have the building re-measured and submit a new application for licenced places.

ACS has indicated it will look to offer 87 places initially with the aim to fill all places as the first step. Guided by the community need, and with the reconfiguration of the centre layout, ACS anticipates it may be able to increase available spaces once it can determine the service provision requirements and demand.

ACS has indicted it intends to expand the infrastructure and available places further over the lease term.

If current enrolment information and staff details can be provided by the existing operators, ACS will make every effort to accommodate current attendances and wait list priorities.  

Spaces depend on the physical size of the service, and this will depend on whether new places can be made available when the single licence takes effect. The facility will be remeasured, and modelling conducted on the best program design to ensure the majority of children can be accommodated.

As part of the EOI process, applicants were required to outline how they would maximise the operations and offerings of early years services (childcare and kindergarten) at the Mayday Hills Beechworth Childcare and Kindergarten Centre and, in doing so, how their proposed service offering would significantly reduce current waiting lists.

ACS has advised that it will consult with the community, including establishing a Parents Advisory Group. 

ACS will seek support from both Beechworth Kindergarten and BCEYLC to work together to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible for both families and staff.  

While ACS needs to engage staff directly as an employer, it understands the critical importance of connection and consistency of educators for children. ACS fully intends to meet with all impacted staff as soon as practicable and discuss employment opportunities. This will ensure the best outcome for staff, families and children. 

ACS believes its staff are its most important asset. ACS is currently negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement with its staff, the Australian Education Union, and the Australian Services Union. When this process is complete and ratified by the Fair Work Commission, ACS staff will be paid well above awards and comparable agreements, with four years of generous wage increases. It is unlikely existing staff will be paid less under ACS.

ACS’ new Enterprise Agreement also offers 15 weeks of paid parental leave to both parents, NAIDOC leave, grandparent leave to staff who care for their grandchildren, as well as leave for IVF, Adoption, and Surrogacy. They also offer more generous programming time for educators and extensive professional development opportunities.

ACS looks forward to meeting with each member of staff at the Beechworth service to discuss their skills, qualifications and goals moving forward.

Like BCEYLC and Beechworth Kindergarten, ACS is a not-for-profit service and aims to keep fees as low as possible in keeping with their community values. 

ACS offers several different program types, including sessional kindergarten (free), short day care ($122), kindergarten integrated into long day care – a range of options (starting at $52 per day), and full-fee long day care ($146 per day). The Childcare Subsidy is applied to all programs where families are eligible (except sessional kinder, which is fully funded).

While fees have not yet been set for 2026, ACS prioritises quality and ensuring fees are manageable for families. 

All enquiries relating to enrolments can be directed to ACS: enquiries@myacs.asn.au

ACS is an approved Early Years Manager (EYM) with the Department of Education.

This means ACS must comply with higher levels of governance and adhere to the EYM policy frameworks, operating guidelines, and complete strategic improvement processes, reviewed quarterly by the Department of Education. Information about EYMs here - Early years management | vic.gov.au

Indigo Shire is working with ACS and the current occupants of the Beechworth Childcare and Kindergarten Centre, BCEYLC and Beechworth Kindergarten on transition arrangements. Our current priority is to facilitate discussions with all parties to determine the initial phases of a transition plan. We will update the community on key actions/outcomes of these discussions as these are determined and agreed upon.  

ACS has advised Indigo Shire that it is committed to minimising the impact on children, families and staff. A single operator changes the licence and governance arrangements, but services to families and children should not change significantly. Long day care and kindergarten will still be offered, with the same spread of hours and days of operation. ACS is not for profit and prioritises quality over profit. ACS will make every effort to accommodate current attendances and wait list priorities.  

ACS has advised it will meet with existing staff members to discuss their availability, skills and qualifications, with the intention to offer employment. This will allow for a seamless transition, providing consistency of care for children currently attending both services. 

ACS caters to the needs of each community it serves and does not use a “one size fits all” approach. ACS adapts programs, operating hours, and staffing to ensure they can accommodate as many children as possible. ACS understand the needs of working parents to have safe, nurturing places for their children. 

Befitting its history and landlord of existing services, Alpine Shire Council has representation on the ACS Board. As the lease is negotiated, Indigo Shire Council representation will be considered.

Governance and board structure

The ACS Board of Directors is a volunteer, skills-based board, and under the ACS Constitution, no Director is a parent of children attending ACS. Not all Directors are residents in Alpine Shire, although all have links to the region. Each Director was appointed as they possess a valuable mix of skills, including paediatric health, finance, engineering, construction, and marketing. 

Directors are not paid and volunteer their time and skills. 

In 2021 ACS moved from an Incorporated Association to a Company Limited by Guarantee under the Corporations Act. They are registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC) to whom they report annually and are audited annually by independent auditors.

 Parents Advisory Group

Alpine Children’s Services has indicted that they will establish a Parent Advisory Group (PAG) for the Beechworth service and the community. A Parent Advisory Group forms a critical link between the community and the board. 

Indigo Shire Council entered into a Commercial Lease with Latrobe University for a term of 99 years commencing in 1997 for a parcel of land within Mayday Hills. A condition of the lease is that Council was to construct a building on the site for the operation of a Children Services Centre. The site was subsequently sold to Mayday Hills Beechworth Pty Ltd which is now the Lessor.

Council awarded a contract to construct the building in 1997 with funding from a grant from the Department of Human Services and Council funding. A report to Council dated 25 January 2000 notes that a community committee was involved from the start of the project and had major input into obtaining grants and the selection of an architect.

While the building sits on land owned by Mayday Hills Beechworth Pty Ltd, they are the legal owners. However as Council is the long-term Lessee of the land and constructed the building, it assumes financial and management responsibility for it, and “effective ownership”.

Maximising the use of the facility to respond to community needs, particularly long wait lists, was a key component of the EOI criteria.

Although multiple entities could form a partnership or consortium to offer services at the site, it was a priority for Council that a single point of contact be responsible for overall service planning and delivery. This approach was critical to ensure the facility would be utilised to its full capacity and address childcare and kindergarten needs.

The Beechworth Community Early Years Learning Centre (BCEYLC) and Beechworth Kindergarten Centre is situated on land previously owned by La Trobe University and now owned by Mayday Hills Pty Ltd. Indigo Shire Council has a 99 year-lease with Mayday Hills Pty Ltd for this space for the provision of kindergarten and childcare services. Council currently has independent occupancy agreements with both the BCEYLC and the Beechworth Kindergarten to provide these services.

These occupancy agreements were due to end on the 31 August 2025. These current arrangements have recently been extended until 31 December 2025 to:

• accommodate this process; 
• allow time and certainty for the current operators and their clients; and 
• to align with the calendar year and service operating cycles. 

Council manages numerous public assets and has a responsibility to ensure their occupancy is determined through a fair, transparent and competitive process and their use is for the best community outcome. As part of the EOI process each potential applicant is provided with the same information and required to prepare a full response. The process ensures a level playing field in which all applicants have a fair opportunity to be successful in the process.

Particularly after long periods of occupation, an EOI process is considered good practice to provide opportunities to test the market for suitable occupants and for the wider community to also be considered for access to the building.

In this case, putting the building occupancy out for a public expression of interest was to test the market with an EOI designed to maximise the operations and offerings of early years services from the Mayday Hills Centre. It is believed than an improved operational model will improve the utilisation of the space and in doing so will significantly reduce the waiting lists and delivery the best community outcome.

Council assesses risk using a risk matrix that considers likelihood and consequence aligning to eight risk descriptors (Strategy, Service Delivery, Financial, People & Safety, Reputation, Environment, Governance, Property & Infrastructure). 

Using this risk matrix which outlines consequence descriptors and likelihood descriptors, negative community response and disruption of service provision was identified to have minor consequence and low risk rating.

Through the EOI process applicants were asked to provide information against the criteria; evidence of experience, type of use and community benefit and maximum use of the facility which considered and assessed each applicant proposal and demonstrated experience relating to the criteria. 

Areas of focus included the ability to manage and mitigate risks associated with numerous aspects of the establishment and ongoing operations of each applicant including; transition planning and implementation, minimising disruption to service provision, understanding of the local context and community, and community consultation.  

Impacts to both current occupants, Beechworth Community Early Years Learning Centre and Beechworth Kindergarten were considered through the EOI process. These were considered and assessed alongside the benefits that the proposed recommended applicant would bring to the Beechworth Community. 

The attachments to the Council meeting report are confidential under Section 3(1)(g)(iv) of the Local Government Act 2020, because they contain private commercial information, being information provided by a business, commercial or financial undertaking that, if released, would unreasonably expose the business, commercial or financial undertaking to disadvantage.

The reason this section applies is the attachments contain sensitive business information, including details of internal business plans, business processes and staffing information, and details of the evaluation panels scoring and commentary relating to this which identifies applicants strengths and weaknesses against the selection criteria which would unreasonably expose the business by providing an unfair advantage to their competitors in future tender processes and would impact the applicants’ public reputation.