Priority of Access Enrolments
The Education Department’s priority of access criteria requires service providers to prioritise funded kindergarten places to specified cohorts of children. This helps to support children experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage access a kindergarten place.
In instances where more eligible children apply for a place at a kindergarten service than there are places available, services must:
prioritise children based on the criteria listed below
work with other local kindergarten services and the regional Department office to ensure all eligible children have access to a kindergarten place.
This criteria must be used by service providers when prioritising enrolments:
Children at risk of abuse or neglect, including children in out-of-home care
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
Asylum seeker and refugee children/ families
Children who meet the eligibility criteria for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy
Children with additional needs, disability or developmental delay
Find a detailed criteria and guide to demonstrate eligibility here. Find eligibility information for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy here.
Early Start Kinder (ESK) Eligibility
Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) is a grant funded by the Department of Education and Training (the Department) that provides eligible three-year-old children access to up to 15 hours of free or low cost kindergarten per week, including in areas with funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten. This grant is available in both long day care and sessional services where the kindergarten program is delivered by a qualified teacher. A child can be placed in a Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program, a mixed age program or where early start enrolments are incorporated into a four-year-old program. .
The ESK grant is available for children who are:
three years old by 30 April in the year they are enrolled and either;
from a refugee or asylum seeker background or
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or
known to Child Protection.
enrolled in a kindergarten program delivered by a Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registered early childhood teacher.
No Jab, No Play Policy
In 2016, amendments were made to the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (known as the 'No Jab, No Play' policy) to require children to be up-to-date with immunisations for their age to enrol in early childhood education services.
The purpose of this legislation is to encourage high early childhood immunisation rates in Victoria, to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
The legislation also prompts parents/carers to keep their child's immunisations up to date.
To comply with this legislation, and to finalise a child’s enrolment in early childhood education, early childhood education and care services must request a current immunisation history statement from the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) that shows the child is up to date with all the immunisations due for their age.
The only exception to this requirement is if the child can enrol under the 16-week support period.
Types of services the legislation applies to:
The requirements of the "No Jab, No Play" policy applies to approved and licensed early childhood education and care services in Victoria, providing:
long day care
kindergarten (including 3 and 4-year-old kindergarten)
occasional care
family day care.
The legislation does not apply to:
enrolment in primary or secondary school
children attending an outside school hour care service (after school care, before school care, vacation care)
enrolments of school children in long day care, family day care or occasional care
casual occasional care services that offer care for each child of no more than 2 hours per day and no more than 6 hours per week (for example, crèches at gyms and shopping centres) playgroups
services primarily providing instruction in particular activities (for example, sport, dance, or music)
services primarily provided or shared by family members of the children (and a family member is readily available and retains responsibility for the child).
Approved and licensed early childhood education and care services in Victoria must comply with the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008. Authorised officers from the Department of Education and Training monitor the compliance of early childhood education and care services. This includes checking that the immunisation status of children is recorded in the enrolment record. Penalties for non-compliance can apply.
Court Orders and Parenting Plans
Our application form includes a section requesting information about any Court Orders or Parenting Plans that may be in place while your child is attending kindergarten.
If Court Orders or Parenting Plans are applicable, copies must be provided to our Head Office Enrolments Team at the time of application. Additionally, a copy must be submitted to the kindergarten upon your child's commencement.
In situations where the child resides with one parent or is from a single-parent family, only the parent listed on the application form is authorised to make changes to the application or request information regarding the child.
Please note: No information will be disclosed to any individual who is not listed on the application or enrolment form.