Oakleigh South Child and Family Hub

Built to blend in with the natural parkland surroundings of Scammell Reserve, Oakleigh South Child and Family Hub is an integrated early years facility where families can access maternal and child health services, playgroups and kindergartens, all under the one roof.

It was completed and opened for service in January 2024.

Address: 1228 North Road, Oakleigh South

About the facility

The hub includes:

two kindergarten rooms
three Maternal and Child Health service rooms
a multipurpose room that will be home to the Oakleigh South Girl Guides, playgroups other community groups.

Designed by architecture firm AOA Christopher Peck, naturally lit rooms offer a welcoming atmosphere inside, catering to diverse community needs.

Outside, a distinctive curved timber-lined roof reaches around to embrace a large, sheltering tree, creating a warm and playful connection to the landscape while providing a large area of sheltered outdoor space for children to play in.

Sharing Country artwork

Located in the foyer is an artwork by Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung artist Samantha Richards. Titled Sharing Country, the painting welcomes visitors to the hub with its vibrant colours and pays homage to the local environment.

In 2024, Richards led four engagement sessions at the hub with local kindergarten children and Oakleigh South Girl Guides, sharing with them Australian Indigenous culture and art.

Inspired by these discussions, Richards wove their stories and experiences together to create a work that celebrates the knowledge and history our environment holds. Sharing Country is a comment on how we must collaborate with the natural environment to protect, cultivate and learn from it.

Contacts

Ward Avenue Kindergarten

Oakleigh South Child and Family Hub is currently the base for Ward Avenue Kindergarten's programs while its kindergarten facility in Oakleigh South undergoes construction throughout 2024.