The first metropolitan sites announced for 3-year-old preschool
Three metropolitan government preschools will help shape the roll-out of 3-year-old preschool across South Australia.
Ocean View College Children’s Centre, Brentwood Drive Kindergarten and Riverbanks College Preschool will offer 3-year-old preschool programs from 2026, to help inform the roll-out of South Australia’s new preschool model.
Children living in the local preschool catchment area who meet the eligibility criteria will get priority access to places available across the 3 sites. Aboriginal children can continue to access their 3-year-old entitlement, as can children in care.
The roll-out of 3-year-old preschool in long day care services across the state will also start from 2026. Expressions of interest are open for long day care partnership opportunities until 28 February 2025.
All remaining government and sessional preschools will follow a geographic roll-out schedule, starting with regional and rural areas in 2026 and 2027, the greater Adelaide area in 2028, and metro Adelaide starting in 2029 and 2030.
The Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care, led by Julia Gillard, showed all children benefit from 2 years of quality, teacher-led preschool programs. These programs help children to thrive when they are young and set them up for a stronger start to school and beyond.
All South Australian children will continue to have a place in their local government preschool in the year before school.
The 3 metropolitan government preschool demonstration sites will be critical in shaping and informing the broader government and sessional preschool roll-out.
Quality, universal preschool programs will be offered in long day care, early learning centres, sessional and government preschools to every 3-year-old across the state from 2032, no matter their location or setting.
This mixed-sector approach leverages the capacity and expertise across the whole early childhood sector, enabling many children to access 3-year-old preschool programs as early as 2026. It also means thousands of children will have access, a significant increase from when Victoria rolled it out.
The announcement of the demonstration sites represents the latest milestone in a bumper year for South Australia’s early childhood reforms. This includes the roll-out of a preschool OSHC program, a $96.6 million investment to attract and retain early childhood teachers and new legislation to drive reform across the sector to improve outcomes for young children.