Eligibility information
2026 Pre-Prep priority cohort group
From 2026, between 16 and 25 hours of Pre-Prep will be available to:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
- children from a refugee or asylum seeker background
- children who have had contact with Child Protection
- children who were supported by Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) or Access to Early Learning (AEL) in their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten year.
Pre-Prep hours for this group of priority cohort children increase to up to 30 hours from 2028.
Figure 1: 2026 Pre-Prep priority cohort group roll-out
| 2025 | 2026-2027 | 2028 onwards |
| Children offered 15 hours each week of kindergarten programs through ESK and AEL | Children eligible for 16-25 hours of Pre-Prep each week (or up to 1,000 hours per year) | Children eligible for up to 30 hours of Pre-Prep each week (or up to 1,200 hours per year) |
Plan for how your service will deliver Pre-Prep to a child from a priority cohort from 2026 onwards, even if you do not have any current enrolments of eligible children (i.e., Early Start Kindergarten or Access to Early Learning).
2028 Pre-Prep priority cohort group
From 2028, between 16 and 25 hours of Pre-Prep will be available to:
- children who have (or have a parent or guardian who has) a Commonwealth concession card
- children from a multiple birth family (triplets or more).
Figure 2: 2028 Pre-Prep priority cohort group roll-out
| 2027 | 2028-2029 | 2030 onwards |
| Children offered up to 15 hours each week of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten | Children eligible for 16-25 hours of Pre-Prep each week (or up to 1,000 hours per year) | Children eligible for up to 30 hours of Pre-Prep each week (or up to 1,200 hours per year) |
Pre-Prep hours for this group of priority cohort children increase to up to 30 hours from 2030. Services are encouraged to offer children from priority cohorts as many funded kindergarten hours as possible, up to the maximum of funded hours specified. In the first 2 years of each priority group rollout, as Figures 1 and 2 show, this is 25 hours.
Updated