Simplified enrolment processes on the way in Victoria

Councils in Victoria will be supported by the State Government to develop centralised enrolment schemes, and to simplify enrolment processes, in a bid to make it easier for families to secure a kindergarten place for three and four-year-old children. 

Victorian Minister for Education James Merlino announced late yesterday that eight councils in the areas which are the first to implement three-year-old kinder have been awarded grants to develop and strengthen central enrolment schemes.

Through the centralised scheme, parents are able to register their interest at more than one kindergarten service, rather than applying to multiple services in their local area, something which often requires duplicating information and navigating multiple processes used by individual service providers.

“Enrolling a child in kindergarten is an exciting step for Victorian families – that’s why we’re supporting a move towards one-stop-shop central enrolment systems to simplify this process,” Mr Merlino said.

Those councils receiving grants will commence three-year-old kinder in 2020 and 2021, and will receive a combined $410,000 to support the introduction of a centralised enrolment scheme, or to expand an existing scheme to cover as many services as possible in their local area. 

Three-year-old kindergarten is starting in 2020 in six regional local government areas (LGAs) – South Gippsland, Buloke, Hindmarsh, Northern Grampians, Strathbogie and Yarriambiack.

The roll-out of three-year-old kinder will then continue progressively across the state, with families in a further 15 regional LGAs to benefit in 2021. This will be expanded in 2022 to give three-year-olds across the rest of the state access to five hours of funded kindergarten, before being scaled up to a full 15-hour program by 2029.