A critical part of the Best Start, Best Life reforms is Free Kinder, which supports access to 2 years of quality kindergarten programs for Victorian children.
Free Kinder is available for funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep at participating services in standalone (sessional) services and long day care centres. In 2024, 97% of services chose to offer Free Kinder.
Free Kinder is for everyone. A Health Care Card or Australian citizenship is not required to access Free Kinder.
Let families know that participating services receive funding directly from the Victorian Government, so they won’t have to claim the savings back.
Free Kinder at standalone (sessional) kindergartens
- Families with children enrolled in participating standalone (sessional) kindergarten services in 2025 receive a free program.
- For Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, this means a free program of between 5 and 15 hours per week.
- For Four-Year-Old Kindergarten, this means a free program of 15 hours per week.
- For Pre-Prep, which starts in 6 LGAs in 2025, this means a free program of between 16 and 30 hours per week.
- Where additional hours are offered over and above the free program, these hours are optional and will incur a fee.
Free Kinder at long day care centres
- Families with children enrolled in participating long day care centres in 2025 will receive a fee offset.
- The funding rates for Three- and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep can be found on the department website (see first listed webpage in the ‘Resources’ section).
- Most families will still pay some fees for their child’s attendance across the week, depending on the number of days attended and their Commonwealth Child Care Subsidy entitlement.
Children who are eligible for Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) should still be enrolled in ESK, even where Free Kinder or 15 hours per week of funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten is offered.
It is important that families understand they can only access a funded kindergarten program through Free Kinder at one service at a time. Services are required to have a completed ‘one funded place’ form for all families. This form can be included with any enrolment materials provided to families.
Resources
- Kindergarten funding rates:(opens in a new window) for information about 2025 Free Kinder funding rates
- Kindergarten funding guide:(opens in a new window) for information about kindergarten funding and policies
- Communicating about kindergarten to your community:(opens in a new window) for information about Free Kinder that can be shared with families
- 2025 Free Kinder funding requirements - Sessional service providers(opens in a new window) and 2025 Free Kinder funding requirements - Long day care services:(opens in a new window) for specific information on funding requirements
- Resources for funded kindergartens:(opens in a new window) for the ‘one funded place’ form.
Updated