Vanessa Pugliese's three-year-old son Xavier should be gearing up for his second year of kindergarten.
Instead, she says he's feeling "absolutely devastated".
"He has taken a little while to transition into kinder and the thought that I would have to move him to another kinder and he'd have to do it all again was a little worrying for me," she said.
Ms Pugliese is one of dozens of parents whose plans for their children have been thrown into limbo by the planned closure of their kindergarten in Melbourne's north-west.
St Andrew's Kinder Aberfeldie operates on property owned by St Andrew's Anglican Church, which recently revealed it would not be extending the kinder's lease agreement beyond the end of the year.
The notification came just days before the release of the local council's round one offers for 2023 kindergarten placements, which included St Andrew's.
"We don't have many options for kinders," Ms Pugliese said.
"We have applied to a few other kinders with the hope we may get in, we still don't know that, we're not guaranteed a spot."
But the community around the 75-year-old kinder, currently run by BPA Children's Services, aren't giving up without a fight.
At a community meeting this week, parents vented their frustrations at the derailing of their kinder plans, at a time when the expansion of government-subsidised kinder is likely to fuel demand.
Ainsley Holmfield's three-year-old son Sam was also due to continue at the kinder next year.
"It's come as quite a shock," she said.
"We are all set to go for 2023, everyone had made their enrolments … [we were] completely blindsided, a lot of parents are very upset."
Community members say they have struggled to get answers from the church, but have been told the property is wanted for storage.
Another parent, Gayle Doust, said she was concerned about the fairness of the church's decision.
"The way this has been done – giving us this decision after offers [for kinder places] have gone out," she said.
"St Andrew's is the very definition of community to me – it brings people together, its allowed me to raise my children with confidence – send them off to school knowing they've had the best foundation.
"It's a very high quality institution and we are all devastated that it will not continue for future kids."
Mayor and local MP join fight to keep kinder doors open
Moonee Valley Mayor Samantha Byrne and the local Labor MP and state government minister, Ben Carroll, were among those to lend their support to the roughly 60 families affected by the planned closure.
Ms Byrne, who attended the kindergarten herself as a girl, said "a lot" of the kinders in her council zone were already at capacity.
"The side effect [of more free kinder] is the infrastructure isn't necessarily keeping up with demand," she said.
"We are a growing municipality and want to make sure there are enough kinder places for everyone.
"We can't afford to be losing kinders, we need more infrastructure, not less."
A spokesperson for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Minister Ingrid Stitt said the government would work with the community to ensure all families in the area would find a place for their child.
"With two new kindergarten building projects in Essendon and Aberfeldie providing additional capacity from 2023, we know there is sufficient capacity in the area to meet demand and make sure every child in the community gets the best start to their education," they said.
Mr Carroll, who also attended St Andrew's kinder as a boy, said the state government had invested $300,000 to upgrade the kinder with purpose-built facilities and to see it close would be "a real tragedy".
"We want to see St Andrew's prosper — it's been here for 75 years. It's an icon in the community," he said.
The Anglican Church is meeting with the kindergarten operators and the parish of St Andrew's on Thursday and has declined to comment until after that meeting.
