Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke announced almost $100,000 in grants for Cootamundra electorate preschools last week from the Quality Learning Environments Fund.

“These preschools are showing an ongoing commitment to ensuring children in the Cootamundra electorate have access to top quality early childhood education, which, as the local member, makes me extremely proud,” Ms Cooke said.

Annette's Place Director Kathryn Simpson said the money would be put to good use. 

"This money will help to upgrade the environment that the children learn in each day,” she said. “This program aims to support early education services, enhance their premises to help provide inclusive, safe and supportive preschools that contribute to positive experiences and outcomes for children.  A critical feature of any high quality early education program is a beautiful environment which promotes deep learning engagement.”

Educational leader and coordinator Jackie Osborne said the money would be put towards upgrading the flooring at the preschool. 

"It hasn't been updated in a very long time, it was unsightly and damaged in some areas," she said. 

"The grant will assist us to provide a safe and aesthetically pleasing environment for the children and provide children with unbounded opportunities and environments to explore, develop and learn; we will use nature-inspired materials to foster children’s connections to the natural world.

“Replacing the flooring will create more space and flexibility in our environments for us to maximise children’s learning potential by creating flexible environments that adapt to the ever-changing needs and requirements of the children in our care.

"As Early Childhood Professionals, we know that the aesthetics of the learning environment make a difference to the way children interact and learn, we aim to provide beautiful and welcoming learning spaces for children that have a positive impact on their learning.”