JavaScript is required

Space requirements for early childhood services

Indoor and outdoor space requirements for all early childhood service premises.

On this page

All early childhood service premises must meet indoor and outdoor space requirements under the NQF and the Children’s Services Act (CS Act).

The information on this page applies to the following services:

  • Long day care services
  • Standalone kindergartens
  • Outside School Hours Care – before and after school care services
  • Vacation (school holidays) care services
  • Occasional care services
  • Limited hours care services

Only Family Day Care (FDC) residences do not have to meet these space requirements.

For more detailed information on premises requirements for LDC and Kindergartens read: Premises requirements for Long Day Care (LDC) and Kindergartens(opens in a new window).

For accessibility:

Indoor space

All approved providers of centre based services regulated under the NQF or the CS Act must ensure that:

  • each child being educated and cared for by the service has at least 3.25 square metres of unencumbered indoor space.
  • ‘Unencumbered spaces’ are those that can be used for children’s educational programs and play.
  • The same requirement applies to limited hours and occasional care services.
  • This does not include children being educated and cared for in an emergency.

The following areas are not included when calculating the area of unencumbered indoor space:

  • any passageway or thoroughfare (including door swings)
  • any toilet and hygiene facilities
  • any nappy changing area or area for preparing bottles
  • any area permanently set aside for the use or storage of cots
  • any area permanently set aside for storage
  • any area or room for staff or administration
  • the area of a kitchen (unless the kitchen is primarily to be used by children as part of an educational program provided by the service).
  • any other space that is not suitable for children.

Furniture in "home corners", mobile open shelving offering toys and equipment directly to children, and chairs and tables are not considered to encumber the play space. They are an integral part of children’s play area, and are moveable.

Spaces must be only for service use

The area of indoor space counted must be available exclusively for service use when the service is operating.

For example, a library or hall that is available to an outside school hours care service on an ad hoc basis cannot be counted as part of the indoor space.

Outdoor space

NQF services

All approved providers of centre-based services under the NQF must ensure that each child being educated and cared for by the service has at least 7 square metres of unencumbered outdoor space.

  • ‘Unencumbered spaces’ are those that can be used for children’s educational programs and play.
  • This does not include children being educated and cared for in an emergency.

The following areas are not included when calculating the area of unencumbered outdoor space:

  • any pathway or thoroughfare, except where it is used by children as part of the education and care program
  • any car parking area
  • any storage shed or other storage area
  • any other space that is not suitable for children.

Outdoor spaces are important for children to:

  • explore
  • problem solve and
  • for children’s creative expression

It is not only for children to release energy and engage in physical activity, but to allow them to explore and experience the natural environment (regulation 113)(opens in a new window).

As much as possible, outdoor areas should include a variety of area surfaces such as sand, grass, mounds, flat areas and hard surfaces.

Limited hours and occasional care services regulated under the Children’s Services Act

Limited hours services are not required to have an outdoor space.

Occasional Care services must provide 7 square metres of outdoor space per child, the same as the requirement for centre-based services in the NQF.

Former Limited Hours Type 2 services (now Occasional care services) that were licensed prior to 2020 and do not have 7 square metres of outdoor space per child can still operate under the Occasional care service type if they only offer education and care for any child for up to 5 hours per day and 15 hours per week.

Calculating the space

Approved providers must submit calculations that have been completed by a building practitioner(opens in a new window) when applying for:

  • a new service approval, or
  • amending an existing service approval to increase the maximum numbers of children

Building practitioners

Under the NQF, a building practitioner is defined as including:

Area measurement form

This form should be used to verify the indoor and outdoor space:

Services on school sites

Both indoor and outdoor space requirements apply to services that provide education and care:

  • to children over preschool age on a school site, or
  • in the circumstance of an education and care service relocating to alternative premises (for not more than 12 months).

If services do not have outdoor space, they will need to apply for a waiver(opens in a new window).

Verandah space

Verandah space may be included in calculating the indoor space, but only with the written approval of the Regulatory Authority. This rule also applies to limited hours and occasional care services.

A verandah used in calculating the area of outdoor space cannot then be counted in calculations of indoor space.

Contact us

Please contact our Enquiries and Support Team on:

Education

Updated

Back to top