Gunnedah Li'l Achievers expansion to make it biggest childcare centre in town

Li'l Achievers Gunnedah currently looks after 80 children, but after the expansion is complete, they will be able to take on 128 kids at any one time.

Business director Linda Gallagher said the centre was currently on two blocks, and a building had been demolished on the block next door to accommodate for the work.

The new building would be for the babies and toddlers.

"There'll be two rooms for babies, one room is for 12 children and another room is for 16 and there's a toddler room of 20. It'll all be a super modern design, purpose-built, with surround sound throughout and a constant temperature," Ms Gallagher said.

"It's just going to be amazing."

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The first expansion is only three years old, and there are currently 30 staff employed. The next move will allow for the hiring of 14 extra locals.

"We're locally owned and run, and we support and employ locals," Ms Gallagher told the Leader.

Work began to clear the site in early January, and the Li'l Achievers team hope everything will be finished by the end of September.

The decision to expand was made because of the wait list for childcare spots in Gunnedah.

"In the first expansion we went from 28 children a day to 80 and there was a massive need for that, and it's only been three years since that expansion and we've found we need to do it again," Ms Gallagher said.

"There's a lot of working mums needing to go back to work and they can't because there's no childcare spaces."

But she said one hurdle would be finding qualified staff in time.

"We have to be compliant with the government's recommendations of 50/50 of diploma trained to cert III trained so that is the hardest part for that," she explained.

There are six childcare options for families in Gunnedah at the moment, including the mobile unit Ooranga.

Another centre will pop up on Stock Road within about a year, which will have 94 spaces available for children.

The $2.5 million facility will be run by Imagine Childcare.

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