Kindergarten Sector Guide

Victoria is building on its nation-leading early childhood system by delivering:

• Free Kinder: Free Kinder is available for 3- and 4-year-old children at participating Victorian services in standalone (sessional) kindergartens and long day care centres.
• Pre-Prep: Four-Year-Old Kindergarten is becoming Pre-Prep with programs across Victoria increasing to 30 hours each week by 2036.
• Three-Year-Old Kindergarten: Three-Year-Old Kindergarten continues, with programs increasing to 15 hours a week across the state by 2029, providing Victorian children with 2 years of quality early learning before school.
• Early learning and childcare centres: 50 Victorian government-owned and operated early learning and childcare centres are being established. These centres will be built in areas with the greatest need and make it easier for families to access early childhood education and childcare.

Victoria’s expansion of Three- and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten gives children more time with qualified early childhood teachers and educators, during a period of rapid brain development.

This increase in hours in the year before school gives children even greater access to the many benefits of early childhood education.

Teachers and educators can also provide deeper and more deliberate play experiences, which will give children opportunities to embed their learning.

Resources

• Early Learning Victoria:(opens in a new window) for information about confirmed new 2025 and 2026 early learning and childcare centre sites, and frequently asked questions, such as how locations are chosen
• The Best Start, Best Life reforms:(opens in a new window) for information about the Best Start, Best Life initiatives and the roll-out schedule

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.

Services determine how many hours of funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten are delivered per week, with a minimum of 5 hours and a maximum of 15 hours, within set parameters. In 2024, more than 80% of services offered 15 hours per week.

The priority is to give as many Victorian children access to a funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten place as possible. Services will be funded pro-rata for the program hours delivered.

Where places are limited, the participation of children is prioritised over the number of weekly program hours delivered.

Services should not increase their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program hours in 2025 if this lowers the number of 3- or 4-year-old places that were offered in 2024. For more information about the flexible hours policy and eligibility for an exception, refer to the department’s operational policies supporting the Best Start, Best Life reforms (listed in resources below).

Key milestones for Three-Year-Old Kindergarten:

• 2020: introduced in 6 regional local government areas (LGAs)
• 2021: launched in a further 15 LGAs
• 2022: available across Victoria
• 2023-2025: services across Victoria are providing between 5 and 15 hours of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten each week.

From 2026, across Victoria, children who meet the eligibility requirements due to their learning or developmental needs can access an additional year of either Three-Year-Old Kindergarten or Four-Year-Old Kindergarten (or Pre-Prep for eligible children), but not both.

Kinder Kits

As part of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, all eligible children receive a free Kinder Kit. Everything inside a Kinder Kit has been recommended by education experts to help families make learning through play part of everyday life.

The specially designed Kinder Kits are filled with books by Australian authors and educational toys and activities, made especially for 3-year-olds to enjoy at home.

Resources

• Operational policies supporting the Best Start, Best Life reforms:(opens in a new window) for more information on flexible hours and other policies relating to Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, flexible hours and other policies for funded kindergarten service providers
• Second year of funded Four-Year-Old Kindergarten:(opens in a new window) for more information about an additional year of kindergarten
• Kinder Kits:(opens in a new window) for videos and resources about Kinder Kits. There is information about the authors and makers, and readings of Kinder Kit books with Auslan translations
• Information about kindergarten in your language:(opens in a new window) Each Kinder Kit includes a printed Guide for Families(opens in a new window), with tips and ideas to help parents and carers guide their child’s early learning and development at home. The Guide for Families is also available online in 31 languages.

From 2025, Four-Year-Old Kindergarten in Victoria will gradually transition to Pre-Prep, with programs increasing from 15 to 30 hours each week by 2036.

Led by qualified teachers, the increase in hours through Pre-Prep will give 4-year-old children more opportunities to socialise and learn through play.

Pre-Prep will launch in 6 LGAs in regional Victoria in 2025, and will gradually roll out across the state.

The staged schedule allows time to grow the necessary workforce and build the infrastructure required, and for services to prepare for expanded programs. New LGAs will start to deliver Pre-Prep each year:

• From 2025 through to 2028, Pre-Prep will roll-out in all Victorian regional LGAs (except Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong).
• From 2032, Pre-Prep will begin in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.
• From 2034, Pre-Prep will begin in Metropolitan Melbourne.

Pre-Prep will also be rolled out to the below priority groups across Victoria:

• From 2026, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from a refugee or asylum seeker background, and children who have had contact with Child Protection will have access to Pre-Prep. Children supported by Access to Early Learning to attend Three-Year-Old Kindergarten will also be eligible.
• From 2028, children who have (or have a parent or guardian who has) a Commonwealth concession card, and children from a multiple birth (triplets or more) will have access to Pre-Prep.

See the roll-out map and link to full roll-out schedule below, which also outlines how many hours are available and when.

• Pre-Prep roll-out map (digital banner) (PNG, 84.8KB)(opens in a new window)
• Roll-out map GIF(opens in a new window)

Resources

• Four-Year-Old Kindergarten is becoming Pre-Prep(opens in a new window): for information about Pre-Prep and the roll-out schedule. You can also find a calculator here that families can use to check their child’s eligibility for Pre-Prep.

The scale of the Best Start, Best Life reforms means some degree of change at every service, whether your service is a large provider with multiple programs, or a small kindergarten with a parent-run committee of management.

The way your service approaches making changes to deliver more hours of kindergarten will depend on what is right for your service and community.

When you are considering how to increase your program hours, your local Early Childhood Improvement Branch(opens in a new window) can help you to explore:

• changes to your program modelling, such as through multi-age or rotational groups
• grants, supports and initiatives available for new and expanded facilities, and to improve existing facilities.

This advice will be tailored to the characteristics of your service, and your unique circumstances.

Your local Early Childhood Improvement Branch can also talk to you about the measures in place to provide support for services to attract and retain the early childhood workforce, including:

• a Best Start, Best Life communications campaign to encourage people from all backgrounds to choose careers in early childhood education
• scholarships, upskill programs for educators, innovative initial teacher education, tertiary partnerships, traineeships and access to Free TAFE to improve the accessibility and quality of pre-service training
• financial incentives and recruitment supports, as well as induction and mentoring supports for early career teachers, to enhance the transition from study to practice for the current workforce
• professional development and career supports, including coaching, communities of practice, and Early Years Learning Networks, and programs to enhance leadership and career development.

Resources

• Shaping the Best Start, Best Life reforms:(opens in a new window) to see the infrastructure and workforce strategies
• Early childhood grants:(opens in a new window) for information about Building Blocks and other early childhood infrastructure grants
• Directory of programs:(opens in a new window) for current workforce programs across the 6 areas for action in the strategy
• Career opportunities and support:(opens in a new window) for information about job opportunities and support available for anyone interested in a career in early childhood education.

By 2036, all children across Victoria will have access to 1,800 hours of funded kindergarten before school, including 600 hours of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and 1,200 hours of Pre-Prep.

Two years of quality early childhood education has more impact than one year and can lift children’s outcomes across all learning domains.

Studies show children who attend kindergarten for 2 years have better development in language, pre-reading, early number concepts, independence, concentration, and social skills when starting school.

The first 5 years of life are a period of rapid brain development — by the time a child turns 5, around 90% of their brain development has occurred.

Two years of quality early learning programs has a particularly strong impact on children who need extra support.

Why play-based learning?

As an early childhood professional, you see how powerful play-based learning can be for young children as they explore, experiment, question and discover new concepts.

Play-based learning is now widely understood to be one of the most important ways to support children to develop the skills they need to live well now and into the future.

You may want to explain to families what play-based learning is, and that through purposeful play, children can engage with the people, places and objects around them to build an understanding of themselves and their world. Let parents and carers know that positive attitudes towards learning, such as persistence, curiosity, and imagination, are all developed during play, and it can set children up for a life-long love of learning.

As Victorian kindergarten programs will continue to be play-based when Pre-Prep is introduced, the increase in hours will provide opportunities to create deeper and more deliberate play experiences. It may be helpful to let families know this will often include a combination of physical play, dramatic play, sensory play, nature/outdoor play and creative play.

Resources

• The evidence behind 2 years and more time in kindergarten:(opens in a new window) for information about the evidence behind the reforms
• Why play-based learning:(opens in a new window)for information about what play-based learning is and its benefits
• Communicating about kindergarten to your community:(opens in a new window)contains the ‘Play-based learning and your child’ factsheet with families listed under ‘Infographics and fact sheets’.

Supporting Victorian 3- and 4-year-old children to enrol in and experience the benefits of a quality, play-based kindergarten program continues to be a priority.

The following information may be helpful when talking to families about when and how to enrol in kindergarten programs, including if this is done directly through the service, local council or Central Registration and Enrolment Scheme (CRES) provider.

Resources

• Communicating about kindergarten to your community:(opens in a new window) for resources to promote your kindergarten programs and enrolments
• shout.finsbury.com.au:(opens in a new window) to order printed materials for your service from the Victorian Kindergarten Resource Portal, free of charge and delivered to your service.

There are a range of supports for funded kindergartens to enable Victorian children from all backgrounds to access and participate in kindergarten programs. These supports may support your engagement with children in priority cohorts who are eligible for early access to Pre-Prep from 2026.

All services are required to comply with the Child Safe Standards. To create and maintain a child safe organisation, services need to consider how they embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements.

The appropriate sharing of information to support child wellbeing or safety is also enabled through the Child Information Sharing Scheme(opens in a new window).

The Victorian Early Years and Development Framework extends on this further, with services also responsible for creating welcoming and culturally inclusive environments for all children.

Kindergarten Inclusion Support Program

The Kindergarten Inclusion Support Program (KIS) program enhances a kindergarten’s capacity to respond to the individual abilities, interests and needs of children with disability or developmental delay and high support needs or children with complex medical needs in an inclusive kindergarten environment.

Support can include:

• specialist consultancy
• specialist training for staff
• minor building modifications
• additional staffing support.

Resources

• Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS):(opens in a new window) for information about the types of KIS programs and who to contact.

Kindergarten Inclusion Support - Specialised Equipment Program

Specialised equipment is available through Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS) Specialised Equipment Program (SEP) for loan, and at no cost, to Victorian Government funded kindergarten programs to support children with significant disabilities to participate in kindergarten.

Resources

• Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS) Specialised Equipment Program (SEP):(opens in a new window)for more information on the program, including eligibility, and how to apply.

Preschool Field Officer program

The Preschool Field Officer program is designed to provide practical advice and support to early childhood teachers in funded kindergarten services for children with additional needs.

Support can include:

• providing information, resources and program strategies
• coaching for teachers, including modelling specific strategies
• identification of referral pathways.

Preschool Field Officers do not deliver direct interventions with children, but rather support, guide and coach early childhood teachers to provide high-quality programs that support the inclusion of children with additional needs.

Resources

• Preschool Field Officer program:(opens in a new window) for more information about the work Preschool Field Officers do (including guidelines and a factsheet) and a list of regional contacts.

Watch the videos below to help you answer questions your families may ask.

BSBL

Video – Kindergarten programs in Victoria

Make everyday a new adventure

Experience a day in kinder, where learning through play makes every day a new adventure.

Free Kinder

Bachar Houli recognises the opportunity Free Kinder gives Victorian families.

Three-Year-Old Kindergarten

3YOK – Celebration Video

Four-Year-Old Kindergarten

Pre-Prep is available in 2026

Enrolments

2025 kindergarten enrolments

Supports

Supporting CALD families to engage in kindergarten shares resources for services and providers to communicate with cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) families about kindergarten and its benefits.

In-language videos help families learn more about the benefits of kinder and help them enrol. Further information can be found on the Use an interpreter in early childhood education services webpage.

Other

The importance of VEYA 2024

Beach kinder

For more information, contact your local Early Childhood Improvement Branch(opens in a new window), which can provide tailored support.

The department holds meetings and events that can help you and your team:

• Early Learning Leadership Forums – held in each of the 17 department areas twice a year, these forums provide a valuable opportunity for service and organisational leaders to connect locally
• Best Start, Best Life Evening Leadership Series – statewide hybrid events held twice each year to keep the sector informed on the reforms
• Early Years Learning Networks – over 60 local networks meet once each term, where teachers share learning, build collaborative connections, drive continuous quality improvement and embed the reforms in their practice.

Resources

• Events for service and organisational leaders:(opens in a new window) for upcoming dates of Early Learning Leadership Forums and the Best Start, Best Life Evening Leadership Series.
• Early Years Learning Networks for early childhood teachers:(opens in a new window) for more information around the Early Years Learning Networks and how to get involved.

Your feedback is important

This guide will be regularly updated as the Best Start, Best Life reforms progress. The department welcomes your feedback on this resource.

Email: bsbl.change.management@education.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window).