Draft policy and funding guide
Child eligibility
Aligning preschool and school commencement dates
Every child’s development is unique, and partner services should collaborate with families to determine the best time for their child to begin preschool. Some families may seek to have their children enrolled in a preschool program as soon as they are eligible, and others may wish to defer, based on when they are planning to have their child start school.
Children will be eligible to access up to 8 terms2 or 2 years of funded preschool in the 2 years before school.
Aboriginal children and children who are or have been in care continue to be entitled to access a government preschool program any time after their third birthday.
If a child has reached compulsory school age (6 years old), they will become ineligible for preschool funding.
[2] For non-government services, the reference to terms should be read as quarters, and enrolment timeframes should align on that basis.
3-year-old preschool
Enrolment timeframes
All partner services (sessional and long day care) must undertake a twice-yearly registration of interest and enrolment process for preschool programs before the start of each major intake (annual and mid-year). There is an option for late registrations of interest and enrolment decisions, based on service capacity.
Age eligibility
To check whether a child is of eligible age, an age calculator will be available from mid-2025 to support families to identify when children are eligible to enrol and start 3-year-old preschool.
Enrolment eligibility
To be eligible to enrol into a 3-year-old preschool program, a child must be:
- aged 3 by 30 April (for term 1 enrolment) or 3 by 30 October (for term 3 enrolment) of the year in which they are enrolled in the funded program
- enrolled in the funded preschool program for a minimum of 6 and up to maximum of 15 hours per week (with the exception of the 30-hour preschool program) – this ‘flexible hours’ approach will apply during the roll-out period of 2026 to 2032
- not attending another funded preschool program
- not yet in compulsory schooling.
Residency
Residency requirements will be advised before the OECD contract with partner services.
Intake
Some children will not yet have turned 3 within the 2-year period before they plan to start school – with the youngest such child being 2 years and 9 months old.
Services are not required to start these children in the preschool program if they cannot accommodate them, given National Law ratio requirements.
Services are required, at a minimum, to offer families the option for these children to either start during the term/s or to push back their enrolment to the next start or mid-year intake point. The goal is that children should receive as much of their 2 years of preschool as possible, considering intended school starting ages.
Implementation of the intake requirements is likely to differ across service types, however, all partner services must provide a minimum of 6 intake points across the year.
In addition to the minimum intakes, partner services can start children earlier or at more frequent intervals, with approval from their families – for example:
- partner services can start children in the preschool program and receive preschool funding for children not yet 3, if they can manage this within ratios and parents support this option, noting the maximum preschool funding for that child will be 2 years (8 terms)
- services may choose to offer families a rolling intake based on the date a child turns 3
- a child born in February could start in the middle of term 1, and a child born in March could start at the start of term 2, rather than being forced to start preschool mid-year and either miss out on a whole semester of preschool, or push back their school starting age
- alternatively, a service may start children from the day the child turns 3 in February or March, if they wish to accommodate this within allowed ratios. The same would be true for children born in July or August.
Quantum of funding
Services will be funded for all enrolments confirmed before the start of the 6-month period, irrespective of when the children are likely to start within that 6-month period.
For example, confirmed enrolments must be provided in November for the upcoming 6-month period, and services will be funded on that basis.
This means that funding for an enrolled child will be provided to the partner service for the full 6-month period (the whole semester) that the child is enrolled to start, including where a child begins preschool later than the start of the semester, due to their age.
This is subject to the OECD receiving appropriate and timely enrolment information from the partner service.
Funding will not apply to children who are not yet enrolled as at the beginning of the semester (such as, to children who enrol after the semester begins and who start preschool during this period).
If there is a net increase in total enrolments within a 6-month period at a scale that warrants the service to consider employing additional staff to accommodate these new enrolments, a request for additional funding must be made to OECD.PreschoolFunding@sa.gov.au.
Child eligibility for 3-year-old preschool service types
Eligibility requirements for different modes of 3-year-old preschool delivery reflect the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care. We want to optimise the delivery of the program in services that families are already using to meet their needs, as well as provide options for families not currently using long day care services.
Aboriginal children and children in out-of-home care continue to have an entitlement to a 15-hour program at a government preschool from the date of their birthday.
Services need to make sure that families enquiring about 3-year-old preschool understand their eligibility:
- Children in long day care at the time of registering interest for preschool would receive their 3-year-old preschool offer from their long day care service, if it is a partner service. This applies regardless of the number of days per week a child attends.
- Children who have not been enrolled in a partner service have the option to apply for preschool within a government or non-government sessional preschool, or other partner long day care service. This is based on family preferences and services available within their local area. Available options will grow as the roll-out progresses between 2026 and 2032.
- Note: Children in a long day care at the time of registering interest for preschool not offering a 3-year-old preschool program (that is, not a partner service) are eligible to apply for 3-year-old preschool within a government or non-government sessional preschool, or another long day care service.
- Note: If a family decides to cease their child’s long day care enrolment before the start of the next preschool program intake period (January or mid-year), they will be eligible to apply for preschool within a government or non-government sessional preschool, or other partner long day care service. The family would need to formally notify the partner service by October before the start of the following year, (or by April before a mid-year start).
- Note: A child cannot be in receipt of a funded 3-year-old preschool program at two services.
Please see the table below for clarification.
Criteria for accessing 3-year-old preschool | |
| Child may receive 3-year-old preschool at that service, and have the option to move to another LDC service to receive their program if they chose |
| Family has the option to apply for preschool within a government or non-government sessional service, or another LDC service providing the preschool program |
|
*LDC – long day care
Four-year-old preschool
Age and setting eligibility remain the same for 4-year-old preschool. Children will continue to be entitled to access 4 terms (1 year) of government preschool in the year before they start school. Families may choose to enrol their child in 4-year-old preschool in a funded long day care or non-government sessional preschool service.