Priority of access, additional funding and support with Early Start Kindergarten (ESK)

Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) continues to be available for eligible children, providing 15 hours of kindergarten each week for two years before school.

Eligible children should be specifically enrolled in ESK, even where Free Kinder or 15 hours per week of funded three-year-old kindergarten is offered.

Enrolling children through ESK ensures they have priority of access, and services can receive additional funding and support. For instance:

• the number of ESK enrolments at your service contributes to how much School Readiness Funding (SRF) your service receives
• sessional kindergartens and long day care services will receive a full year’s funding allocation (for hours enrolled) when ESK applications are approved – this is regardless of when a child starts or leaves the service. This supports your planning around the child’s access and inclusion into the kindergarten program
• long day care services will receive at least $500 in extra funding for supporting an ESK enrolment.

To be eligible for ESK, children must be three by 30 April in the year they start kindergarten, and either:

• be from a refugee or asylum seeker background
• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• be from a family that has had contact with child protection.

Services are encouraged to discuss eligibility for ESK with families and referrers directly, in addition to the information provided through enrolment processes.

To learn more about ESK CLICK HERE.