Our History
We celebrate our proud history of providing early childhood education to our communities for over 70 years.
The origins of River Region Early Education go back to 1951 when the Deniliquin Preschool first began operating from a hall. With tremendous community support and fundraising, a purpose built preschool was completed in 1971, followed with the addition of a second room in 1987.
In 1999 the committee of the Preschool obtained funding to form a Mobile Service. The Mobile Service, working from a base in the preschool, began delivering a child care service in January 2000. At the same time, the Deniliquin Occasional Care committee receiving a grant to build a new premise for Occasional Care. Part of the Preschools large playground became the site for the new childcare building.
With the grant obtained by the Occasional Care committee, the Deniliquin Child Care Centre opened in 2000. Within six months of opening the two days a week occasional care centre became a licensed child care centre for 24 children a day. Renovations then took place, allowing the licence to be expanded to 28 places a day. The committees of the three organisations seized on the advantages of becoming auspiced under one Management Committee, and the Deniliquin Children's Centre was incorporated in 2000.
In 2004 the committee responded to the need for extended hours care in the preschool service, introducing this care for 15 children a day.
In 2005, the Toy Library was auspiced by the Deniliquin Children's Centre to ensure its long term viability and increase access of rural and isolated families to this service.
In 2010 major refurbishment of the Preschool took place, with an extension of the licence to 49 places in 2011.
In 2018 the Deniliquin Children Children's Centre undertook the construction of a new purpose built childcare facility to meet community demand for childcare places. This resulted in a childcare centre
licenced for 55 children.
The constitution was reviewed and due to the increasing turnover, the organisation moved
from an Association to a Company limited by Guarantee in July 2021.
In 2021 the Board of Management of the Barham Early Learning Service (BELS) approached the DCC Board about taking the service under their organisational umbrella.
The Barham Early Learning Service was integrated with the Deniliquin Children’s Centre in March 2023.
The name of the organisation was reviewed in 2023 to represent all of the communities that it services and provide opportunity for growth into the future.
In 2024 our name was changed from Deniliquin Children’s Centre to River Region Early Education.
