The preschool Reform Agreement: National savings for preschool families
The Australian Government will continue to provide per-child preschool funding to states and territories.
This funding gives 15 hours of preschool a week – 600 hours a year – for all children in the year before they start school.
States and territories must provide the Australian Government’s per-child funding to all children in the early learning setting they attend.
This is part of the Federal Government's ongoing committment to gpreschool access for families and children across Australia.
Three-year-old preschool funding options increasing
Preschool is the year before formal schooling starts in NSW, ACT, SA and the NT. Most preschoolers turn four on or before July 31st of their preschool year. Federal, state and territory governments are committed to increasing early learning funding from one year to two years. This means quality early learning will start from three-years-old, and it looks like the following:
Starting Strong in NSW
The NSW Government is encouraging families to extend preschool over two years, starting the year your child turns three. For three-year-old children in eligible preschool programs, families can receive up to another $500 in fee relief in a two-year trial that started in January 2024. Talk to our Family Services team to check if your child is eligible.
Set up for Success in the ACT
The Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) Government's Set up for Success gives the average family a saving of $1,329 for enrolling three-year-olds in preschool. The program promotes two years of preschool before starting school.
- The program will run for 7.5 hours per week.
- It will run 40 weeks of the year.
- Your child must turn 3 by April 30th on the year they start preschool.
- Your child needs to be a resident of the ACT.
- All families qualify for the funding reduction when they enrol their children.
- You don't need to be claiming CCS to qualify.
This applies to long day care (LDC) preschool programs like our Goodstart preschools. This rebate is in addition to your child care subsidy (CCS).
Three-year-old preschool roll out in SA
The South Australian Government has a 20-year goal to reduce the rate of South Australian children who start school developmentally vulnerable. This is what you need to know:
- They're aiming to reduce this from 23.8% to 15% by offering funding for three-year-old preschool.
- Three-year-old preschool will be rolled out in government preschools in stages from 2026 to 2032.
- The government's three-year-old preschool rollout will start in regional and remote areas.
Three-year-old preschool in the NT
The NT government provides preschool funding for up to 15 hours per week for each eligible child. You can access more preschool hours at a long day care (LDC) preschool, and your Child Care Subsidy (CCS) will cover these hours. At Goodstart, our preschools are government approved and our hours are much longer because we're a LDC preschool provider.
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Play-based learning that's government-approved
Our preschool programs follow the Australian Early Years Learning Framework or EYLF. The EYLF is play-based and supports children to grow the following skills in preparation for their transition to school:
- Social skills, like making friends and respecting others.
- Participation in groups and learning to take turns.
- Emotional regulation and naming how they feel.
- Empathy, like reading and understanding the feelings of others.
- Communication skills, like saying what they need without getting frustrated.
It's easy to see play-based learning as 'just having fun'. But it's important to remember that it's not 'just playing'. Children learn through play. You can read more about play-based learning and the EYLF.
Choose sessions that work for you
We provide flexibility and convenience for busy families with:
- longer opening hours, Monday to Friday
- nine-hour, 10-hour and all-day sessions
- our preschool programs are in long day care (LDC) format.
Choosing an LDC format for preschool means your child's early learning goes beyond the five hours a day they'd get if they attended a community preschool. Community and KU preschools have four terms and operate during school hours. This is great if you've got the flexibility to work around school hours and can take school holidays off. But this isn’t possible for most families.
At Goodstart preschools, you can drop them off on your way to work and pick them up on your way home. If you’ve got more than one child in care, this means there’s only one pickup and drop off, too. Plus, you don't need to max out your annual leave to take off school holidays, either.
We'll support your child's unique learning journey
- We'll meet them where they are developmentally.
- We assess and review their progress throughout the years leading up to kindergarten and ensure everything is on track.
- We explore their passions with them, so they feel seen and valued. We offer extra educational support if it's needed.
At Goodstart, we appreciate your child for who they are and where they're going.
Programs designed for a smooth transition to kindergarten
Getting a child ready for kindergarten is a team effort. We'll work with you and their future kindergarten or school to make sure the move is seamless and fun. We use Transition to School Statements to communicate to schools about your child, who they are and how they learn. These documents are carried with them from preschool to school or kindergarten. It helps their new teacher prepare for the best possible year ahead. We often have school transition activities with local schools throughout the preschool year, so your child feels comfy on their first day of kindergarten.
We offer inclusive learning environments
Inclusion is everything to us. Every child deserves to feel seen and valued for who they are. We work hard to create environments and support networks to welcome all children and their families to our centres. We take reconciliation seriously, walking with our families, children, and communities on this journey.
Save your preschool spot for next year!
We hope you're excited by what we can offer your family in this exciting early learning stage. If you'd like to know how we can support your child's transition to school and kindergarten, call our Family Services team or book your local Goodstart Early Learning below.
Your questions answered:
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Starting ages vary by state. You can learn more under Getting started & FAQs. Some children may be eligible to start earlier, including children who identify as Aboriginal, children in care, children with a disability or specific educational needs. 
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Our dynamic, vibrant and inspiring Preschool programs are designed and delivered by Bachelor qualified Early Childhood Teachers to prepare your child for school. We use play-based learning, which encourages exploration, relationship building and creativity. It also helps develop cognitive, physical, social, literacy and numeracy skills.
Find out more information about what your child will learn.
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Our centres offer longer hours and more flexible options than many other Preschools, including nine-hour, 10-hour and all day sessions, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. This means greater flexibility for parents, and more opportunity for us to tune in to when your child learns best.
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Our Preschool program receives government funding (up to 15 hours per week per child over 40 weeks).
You don’t need to meet the activity test in order to qualify for this subsidy payment – that means that regardless of how much work or recognised activity you and your partner do, you can still receive payments to offset the cost of Preschool. If you need extra support in navigating the child care subsidy system, our team is only a phone call away.
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We also provide families with assistance to access support services in the areas of speech, language, behaviour, social skills or overall development where needed. If you're concerned about any aspect of your child’s development or learning, please speak to your child’s Teacher.
Enrolments are now open for our Preschool program.
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Goodstart West Pymble is an excellent early childcare centre. I've had two children at this centre, both started here at the age of 9 months old. The teachers and carers are excellent and provide a very high standard of care for babies through to pre school age children. I highly recommend this centre, especially for young babies entering care.
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This is a wonderful early learning centre! We are so happy we enrolled our children here. We were recommended this service via a couple of friends and we were instantly impressed upon inspection. Of particular interest were the large open play areas for our children to explore which were in stark contrast to the small courtyards of other centres we had previously inspected. The staff have been very welcoming and exemplary in their efforts to help our children settle into their new normal and we are grateful in knowing that they have and will continue to be so well looked after.
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The staff are very friendly, helpful, and nurturing- offering excellent support to our busy working family.
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At Goodstart Early Learning, we welcome you to visit our early learning centres so you can meet our team and view the learning environment.
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