Children attending funded kinder programs supported with School Readiness Funding

Victorian children attending funded kindergarten programs in 2022 will benefit from $53.9 million in funding announced late last week by Minister for Early Childhood Ingrid Stitt.

The funding will ensure that children have the right support in place to help them transition from early childhood education to the start of their formal school life, Ms Stitt said.

“This needs-based funding will improve outcomes in communication, social and emotional wellbeing, access and participation so that all our children are on track to have the best start to school and are on par with their peers,” she explained.

The $53.9 million will be sourced from the Government’s $160 million School Readiness Funding initiative and will support more than 2,500 funded kindergarten services across Victoria in 2022.

The Australian-first initiative addresses gaps in educational disadvantage by building the capacity of services, educators and families to support children’s learning and development through a program that focuses on growing communication, social and emotional wellbeing skills, as well as improving access and inclusion.

Services will receive a funding allocation based on the level of need from children in their programs, with support available to all three- and four-year-old children in funded kinder programs including sessional and long day care.

The support allows kindergarten services to select the package of resources and programs that best reflects the needs of their children and staff – which can include programs targeting speech, language and literacy, support for culturally and linguistically diverse children and families and tools for parents to support their child’s development.

Services can also use funding to tap into the expertise of speech and occupational therapists, language and literacy professionals and child psychologists – who can boost the capability of both parents and teachers.

School Readiness Funding is part of the Victorian kindergarten funding model to help improve learning and development outcomes – with more than 4,200 services receiving funding, helping over 129,000 children.

For more information please see here.