Eligibility and Priority of Access criteria

ELIGIBILITY

All children must meet ‘No Jab, No Play’ Legislation requirements.
4-year-old (4yo) or mixed age - a child must have turned 4 years of age by April 30 in the year they are to attend to coincide with school entry.
Children who turn 6 during their 4yo kindergarten year and have received approval for an exemption to attend school from the Department of Education (DE).
Children younger than the 4yo kindergarten eligible age who have a written request and response from the DE seeking an early entry to school. (Note: very few early school entry requests are approved by DE and if the child attends kindergarten early, but does not proceed onto school the following year, it is not possible to access another year of funded 4yo kindergarten).
3-year-old (3yo) or mixed age - A child must have turned 3 years of age by April 30 in the year they are to attend to coincide with school entry.
3-year-old (3yo) or mixed age - A child must be 3 years of age before they can commence the program as per Education and Care Services National Regulations 2012.

EXAMPLE OF PRIORITY OF ACCESS CRITERIA

1. Priority Children - Residential address must be within Whitehorse or within local proximity to first preference kindergarten for DE Priority of Access.

High priority children

Criteria and processes for verifying need(s)

Children at risk of abuse or neglect, including children in out-of-home care

The child is:

eligible for ESK or AEL, and/or
family, carer or legal guardian identifies the child as known to Child Protection or in out-of-home care, and/or
referred by one of the following:
- Child Protection
- Child and family services (family services referral and support team, Child FIRST/integrated family services/Services Connect case worker)
- Maternal and Child Health nurse
- out-of-home care provider

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children

Family identifies the child as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Asylum seeker and refugee children

Child or family holds a visa or supporting documentation and information, including an ImmiCard, identifying them as a refugee or asylum seeker.
Referred as a refugee or asylum seeker by a CALD outreach worker.

Children that meet the eligibility criteria for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy

Children or parent who holds a Commonwealth Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card, Veteran’s Affairs Card
Multiple birth children (triplets, quadruplets or more)

Children with additional needs, defined as children who:

with an identified specific disability or developmental delays
who requires additional assistance to fully participate in the kindergarten program
who require a combination of services which are individually planned

The child:

holds a Child Disability Health Care Card
has previously been approved for KIS program
has been referred by:
- the National Disability Insurance Scheme
- Early Childhood Intervention Service
- Preschool Field Officer
- Maternal and Child Health nurse

is assessed as having delays in 2 or more areas and is declared eligible for a second year of funded 4 year old kindergarten

2. Repeating Children - Children who have attended the funded 4yo program at the same kindergarten and are declared eligible for a second year of funded 4yo kindergarten as recommended by the Early Childhood Teacher.

3. Local Factors - for example Proximity of residential address to the kindergarten, or Relationship to the kindergarten, i.e. continuing from 3yo to 4yo at the same kindergarten or previous sibling has attended the first preference kindergarten.