Families in Hedland are celebrating the opening of a new childcare service funded by BHP.

Located at the old South Hedland TAFE, the facility has been refurbished to accommodate 52 new families, helping ease the demand for childcare in Hedland.

Carl Askew, CEO Town of Port Hedland, welcomed the opening of the new One Tree Community Services centre.

“When we run our community surveys every year, childcare is one of the essential things,” Mr Askew said.

“This new facility is having a direct impact on children and opportunity. We need it to bring families to town and to keep families in town.”

BHP provided $740,000 to the Town of Port Hedland to refurbish the centre, in addition to $150,000 to assist One Tree Community Services, the operators of the centre, with attraction and retention of staff.

Rachel Rankin from One Tree Community Services, said they have been inundated with families enquiring about positions and are excited to open their doors.

“Families have called and said thank you, thank you, thank you. It is incredible. We have such a close connection with all our families and the community in town and we try to accommodate everyone,” Rachel said.

Chloe Franks, a BHP employee based in Hedland, understands the struggles of securing childcare and welcomes the opening of the centre.

“We went on a waitlist for me to return to work. We were on the waitlist for eight-plus months before we got a phone call,” Chloe said.

“To have an extra facility in town is amazing. It’s very common to hear that lots of people are struggling to find childcare spots. So to relieve that stress will be awesome.”