There are a number of procedures and requirements for enrolment in a public preschool. Families seeking to enrol their child in a public preschool should contact the relevant school directly for enrolment information.

General guidelines

• Public preschools have an obligation to provide education for all children including those with a disability, and ensure every child can participate on the same basis as their peers.
• Public preschools are encouraged to enrol the maximum number of children they are approved for.

Age to attend preschool

• Public preschools enrol children for one year only, the year before they start school.
• While children generally only attend the preschool for one year, the year before they start school, in exceptional circumstances, a child may attend for an additional year at the principal's discretion (following consultation with the child's parent, preschool teacher and principal).
  • This additional year will be treated as a new enrolment application, with the standard order of enrolment priority applied.
  • The additional year may be at the current public preschool or another public preschool, dependent on available positions, enrolment priorities and circumstances of the child and family.
• Children can enrol from the beginning of the school year if they turn 4 years of age before 31 July that year.

Enrolment boundaries do not apply

• Preschool classes are a resource, shared across communities of schools.
• Unlike primary schools, there are no enrolment boundaries for public preschools.
• Children do not need to live in your school's catchment area to apply.
• Enrolment in a preschool class within a school does not automatically translate to an entitlement to enrol in that school for Kindergarten.

Enrolment priority

The principal of the school must prioritise offers of enrolment for:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
• children living in low socio-economic circumstances
• children unable to access other early childhood settings due to disadvantage or financial hardship.

If places remain, the principal will then offer enrolment in the following order:

• children living within the school's enrolment intake area
• children living outside the school's enrolment intake area and who have siblings enrolled at the school
• children living outside the school's enrolment intake area.

Where vacancies exist, principals must make every effort to ensure places are filled following the enrolment priorities outlined above. This includes:

• offering additional days to children who are currently enrolled
• offering places to 3-year-old children in consultation with the school Director, Educational Leadership (DEL) and the Director, Early Learners.

Preschool fees

The department is committed to delivering fee-free early childhood education in NSW public preschools. Public preschools cannot charge fees for preschool enrolment, attendance, waiting list applications or specialist programs in public preschools.

Days and hours of operation

Public preschools are open for children to attend for 6 hours a day and operate on the same days as all NSW public schools, see NSW term dates. Go to Attendance in public preschools for more information.

Application to enrol

• Families seeking to enrol their child in a public preschool should firstly contact the relevant school directly for information about their enrolment procedure.
• Families can express interest in enrolling their child by completing and submitting to the school an Expression of interest to enrol in a NSW public preschool (PDF 911 KB).
• If more expressions of interest are received than available places, the school principal will form a placement panel to assess these.
• The placement panel will offer enrolment to children according to the priorities listed in the Enrolment in public preschools procedure.
• Families offered a place for their child will be asked to complete the Application to enrol in a NSW public preschool (PDF 713 KB) and supply supporting documentary evidence.
• Translated versions of the preschool enrolment application are available.

Immunisation

Preschools cannot enrol a child unless their family provides an Australian Immunisation Register Immunisation History Statement form that shows their child:

• is fully immunised for their age
• has a medical reason not to be vaccinated
• is on a recognised catch-up schedule.

Read more about immunisation.

There is a 12-week temporary exemption for supply of the Immunisation History Statement for:

• an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child
• a child evacuated during a state of emergency
• a child in out-of-home care.

Birth certificates

Families must provide evidence of their child's full name and date of birth. However, if no birth certificate is available, this can be shown through a secondary document, for example:

• passport
• Immicard
• Blue Book or Personal health record
• hospital birth card
• baptism, christening, name giving or similar record.

If none of these documents are available, a statuary declaration can be supplied stating the date of birth of the child and the reason why such a document is not available.

Preschools designated for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children

Eleven designated preschools cater specifically for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children.

• make every effort to ensure places are filled by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children.
• offer places to 3-year-old Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children when places are available.
• offer places to non-Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children where there are insufficient enrolments of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
• reserve 2 places for future enrolments of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children

If there are significant enrolments of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children in their communities, principals are encouraged to liaise with their local NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc. (NSW AECG).

Distance education preschool programs

• A limited number of preschools offer programs through distance education for geographically isolated children, unable to access any other children's services.
• Designation of sites that provide preschool programs via distance education is determined on a needs basis every 3 years.
• Find more information at Rural and distance education.

Temporary residents in preschools

• Preschool children who are temporary residents may enrol in public preschools under the same conditions as Australian citizens.
• The schedule of visa subclasses and enrolment conditions (PDF 125 KB) provides information on access to public preschools for each of the temporary visa subclasses.
• Temporary residents who hold visitor or tourist visas are not eligible for enrolment.
• Preschool children who are temporary visa holders do not have to obtain Authority to Enrol and are not liable for the Temporary residents program education fee.

Early intervention classes

Enrolment in an Early intervention class is through an access request application. Parents and carers should contact their local public school for support with this process or contact their local delivery support team on 131 536.