Kindergarten is an important step for young children and is strongly recommended for all children. It is the two years of early education for children before they start primary school.
Research shows that kindergarten improves children’s health and wellbeing, helps them to develop strong social skills and encourages a love of learning.
Children who attend a kindergarten program are more independent and confident and are more likely to make a smooth transition to primary school.
Participating in a high-quality kindergarten program will offer your child a range of learning experiences and activities that are both stimulating and fun. Your child’s learning and curiosity will be encouraged through experiences and activities, such as exploring the natural world, being exposed to new ideas and solving problems.
benefits for children
Children’s earliest experiences in life establish the foundations for the future. A two-year early learning program, including more hours in the year before school, is supported by evidence from Australia and around the world. Studies show children who attend kindergarten for two years have better development in language, pre-reading, early number concepts, independence, concentration and social skills when they start school.
Click here to continue learning about the benefits for children.
free kinder
CPSG offers Free Kinder across all our kindergarten programs.
Funded by the Victorian State Government as part of the “Best Start, Best Life reform”, all families with a child enrolled in a funded kindergarten program are eligible for Free Kindergarten (this includes both 3 and 4-year-old kindergarten programs).
Free kinder supports every Victorian child to get the best start in life no matter where they live.
Click here for more information.
All children learn and develop in different ways. Some children may benefit from starting school at a younger age, while other children may benefit from starting later. It is important that children are ready to transition to school after kindergarten. Therefore, it is important that parents and carers carefully consider the best time for their child to start kindergarten.
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introducing pre-prep
In 2026, four-year-old kindergarten is transitioning to Pre-Prep, with programs across Victoria gradually increasing from 15 to 30 hours per week by 2036.
In 2026, the first children eligible for additional hours are:
- Children who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- Children from a refugee or asylum seeker background
- Children who have had contact with Child Protection.
To learn more about Pre-Prep, visit www.vic.gov.au/preprep.
if you need help...
If you need assistance in completing the electronic registration form, please contact our Enrolment Officer on 5579 5920 or email info@cpsg,org.au.
enrolment steps
IMPORTANT DATES
| 1 June 2025 | Registrations open |
| 30 June 2025 | Registrations close |
| Week of 25 August 2025 | First round offers sent to families |
| 12 September 2025 | First round offers to be completed |
| From 20 October 2025 | Second round and subsequent 2024 kindergarten offers |
| 30 October 2025 | 2026 kindergarten programs to be finalised and families advised |
KINDERGARTEN FAQ'S
Kindergarten programs are delivered by a qualified Early Childhood Teacher. They are designed to improve your child’s development in:
- social skills, like how to play with other children in a calm, sharing and rewarding way
- self-awareness and respect for others
- emotional skills, e.g., understanding their feelings
- language, literacy and numeracy skills, such as reading stories and counting objects
- participating in learning and group activities, such as talking, drawing and making things together with other children their own age
- making new friends; and
- being exposed to new ideas and concepts.
Kindergarten also gives families:
- opportunities to meet other families and make community connections
- access to support for children with special needs; and
- access to other community services.
CPSG runs mixed-age groups across all our services. This brings together children aged three to six years old offering a unique opportunity for learning and development and can enhance the social and emotional skills of both age groups.
Early childhood education is not about everyone learning the same thing at the same time – it is about creating opportunities for children to learn through active exploration and manipulation of the environment, through communication, through interactions and through developmentally appropriate experiences (appropriate to their own development – not someone elses!)…Merryn Coughlin, Early Childhood Teacher
Mixed-age groups provide benefits to both the older and younger children in the service.
- Older children often take on a mentoring role and benefit from helping younger children in co-operative learning situations, while younger children have the opportunity of enhanced learning experiences where they are ready for it.
- Older children are able to practice and reinforce their own skills as they teach them to younger children e.g. teaching routines, helping them with tasks, communicating kindergarten rules, etc.
- Older children provide a model of appropriate behaviour for the younger children – this can mean less behaviour problems in the classroom because younger children integrate quickly into established class routines as modelled by the older children.
- Younger children are able to seek help from a wider range of people rather than relying on the teacher to help them all the time. This builds their sense of wellbeing and their development of connections within the kindergarten community.
Because early childhood education is focused on individual development, there is not one specific benchmark for all children to achieve by a certain time. Having a mixed-age group reinforces this and ensures that teachers are always focusing on children’s individual needs and development.
Your child will have the benefit of a consistent Early Childhood Teacher over their two years of early childhood education. This means that not only will the teacher have a deeper understanding of your child’s development, resulting in a greater ability to facilitate their education; but your child will have jumped some of the major hurdles of early education by the time they get to school – learning the service routines and expectations and most importantly, establishing a positive relationship with their teacher. Often when there is a different teacher for each year level, children must again adjust to different teaching styles, service routines and expectations.
Yes, kindergarten is free in Victoria. The Victorian government provides funding for both three- and four-year-old kindergarten programs at participating services, including standalone and long day care centers. This means families in Victoria can access free kindergarten for their children without paying out-of-pocket for the program itself.
Free Kinder is free for everyone – you don’t need to be a permanent resident or Australian citizen to access a free kindergarten program.
NB: Free Kinder can only be accessed at one service at a time.
To be eligible, your child must be 3 by 30 April in the year they start kindergarten, and:
- from a refugee or asylum seeker background, or
- identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or
- your family has had contact with child protection.
Watch the Early Start Kindergarten video on Vimeo.
For more information, visit Early Start Kindergarten | vic.gov.au.