Additional year of funded kindergarten

An additional year of funded kindergarten can support children who are eligible. Learn more about the process and eligibility.

Two children playing with resources and smiling

An extra year of funded kindergarten can be considered under certain circumstances for children at your service.

This applies when a child shows delays in at least 2 learning and development outcome areas in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) and when:

  • the kinder program is found to be the most appropriate learning program
  • the child will achieve better outcomes at 3-Year-Old Kinder than if they transition to 4-Year-Old Kinder the following year, or the child will achieve better outcomes at 4-Year-Old Kinder than if they attend school.

Process

During Term 2, early childhood teachers should be assessing children’s abilities, interests and skills against the VEYLDF outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to use the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool to support these assessments.

If a teacher’s assessment of the child’s learning in Term 2 indicates delays in at least 2 of the VEYLDF outcomes and a second year is being considered, the process for assessing whether a child is eligible requires their early childhood teacher to:

If a child turns 6 during an extra year of funded kindergarten, families need to apply for an exemption from school. It is the family’s responsibility to apply for a school exemption by Sunday 1 November 2026.

If the department does not approve a school exemption request, the child will not be eligible for an extra year of funded kindergarten.

Find out more

For more information, please see Additional year of funded kindergarten or Pre-Prep from 2026 and Going to kindergarten if your child is 6 years old.

Updated

Back to top