Victorian Department of Education clarifies priority of access ahead of 2024 enrolments

The Victorian Department of Education has clarified the priority of access guidelines as services position for 2024 enrolments into three and four year old kinder programs. 

The priority of access criteria applies to funded kindergarten places, and requires services to give priority of access to high priority children in the following order: 

• children at risk of abuse or neglect, including children in Out of Home Care
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children 
• asylum seeker and refugee children 
• children eligible for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy (further information here)
• children with additional needs, defined as children who: 

-require additional assistance in order to fully participate in the kindergarten program 

-require a combination of services which are individually planned 

-have an identified specific disability or developmental delay. 

After offering places to children on the priority list, services can choose to allocate priority to children as stated in their policy. This could be those with a link to the service, proximity to the service or other criteria. 

Where there are insufficient places for eligible children, after prioritising using the criteria above, services must: 

• work with other local kindergarten services 
• the regional Department office to ensure all eligible children have access to a kindergarten place. 

For more information refer to Kindergarten Funding Guide