06 JunPriority of access requirements for funded kindergartens
As services start to plan for 2024 enrolments, they need to consider the Victoria Department of Education (DE) priority of access criteria that apply to funded kindergarten places.
The criteria require services to give priority of access to high priority children in the following order:
- children at risk of abuse or neglect, including children in Out of Home Care
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children
- asylum seeker and refugee children
- children eligible for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy. To understand more please CLICK HERE
- children with additional needs, defined as children who:
-require additional assistance in order to fully participate in the kindergarten program
-require a combination of services which are individually planned
-have an identified specific disability or developmental delay.
After offering places to children on the priority list, services can choose to allocate priority to children as stated in their policy. This could be those with a link to the service, proximity to the service or other criteria.
Where there are insufficient places for eligible children, after prioritising using the criteria above, services must:
- work with other local kindergarten services
- the regional Department office to ensure all eligible children have access to a kindergarten place.
For more information refer to Kindergarten Funding Guide or visit the Victorian Government priority of access for early childhood education webpage HERE.
