Early Start Kindergarten - For Three Year Old Children Known to Child Protection
As part of the 2008/2009 State Budget the Victorian Government announced $5.2 million to provide three year old children known to Child Protection with access to kindergarten, now referred to as Early Start Kindergarten. Early Start Kindergarten provides three year old children known to Child Protection with access to kindergarten for typically 2-3 hours (up to five hours) per week across the whole state for free.
Two models of implementation are rolling out this initiative in 2009/10:
- Per capita funding paid to funded services for each eligible child.
- Early Start Kindergarten partnerships have also been funded to implement the initiative in 16 Local Government areas across Victoria to address access and participation of eligible children within these localities.
These will inform the department of the effectiveness of different models of implementation of Early Start Kindergarten, to support policy direction from 2011/12.
- Eligibility and Funding - information on service and child eligibility, and how to apply for funding
- Early Start Kindergarten Partnerships - lists the partnerships which have been implemented to support enrolments and service delivery
- Resources - to assist kindergarten services to implement Early Start Kindergarten
- Information for Parents