Office for Early Childhood Education and Care > Service providers >

Kindergarten for every Queensland child

A child's participation in quality early childhood education lays the foundation for their future success in learning and life.

That's why the Queensland and Australian Governments are investing up to $900 million to deliver universal access to kindergarten marking the single largest investment in kindergarten in Queensland's history.

The Queensland Government will ensure every child can access a kindergarten program by:

Establishing extra kindergarten services in areas of need
The Queensland Government is establishing extra kindergarten services in areas where they are needed most - building on the more than 350 existing kindergarten services.

This initiative is part of the Queensland and Australian governments commitment to increase the percentage of four year olds who participate in a kindergarten program from 40 per cent in 2010 to 95 per cent by mid-2013.

Since the initiative started in 2009, 121 extra services creating 5324 more kindergarten places are to be established on state and non-state school sites by the end of 2013, including 13 kindergarten services to open on Catholic schools in 2013. The kindergarten services on state school sites are operated by C&K - a well respected, not-for-profit organisation with a long track record of providing high quality early education programs. View the full list of kindergarten services being established.

Current planning data indicates only 45 more kindergarten services may be needed in addition to the 121 already planned to achieve universal access to kindergarten programs, making a total of 166 extra services. A saving of $100 million from the $321 million infrastructure commitment is being reinvested in providing quality early childhood education and care services.

Providing funding to support long day care services deliver kindergarten programs
To better meet the needs of working parents, the Queensland Government is providing funding to long day care services to assist them to provide a kindergarten program delivered by a qualified early childhood teacher.

This practical approach will significantly increase the number of Queensland children who can reap the lifelong benefits kindergarten programs provide.

More than 800 long day care services across the state are now approved to deliver kindergarten programs. To find an approved kindergarten program provider, visit the Early Childhood Education and Care Services Search page.

Other kindergarten initiatives:

Providing funding to non-state schools operating kindergarten services.
Implemented the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline to maximise quality and consistency in programs provided across the state, regardless of the setting.
Offered early childhood teacher scholarships to support existing early childhood education and care staff to upgrade their qualifications so they can teach the kindergarten program.
Implementing strategies to increase access and participation for children with diverse needs (e.g. Indigenous children, children with a disability, children from non-English speaking families and children at risk).
Implementing strategies to increase access and participation for children who live in rural and remote locations.
Increasing community awareness about the benefits of attending a kindergarten program, age eligibility requirements and how to find and enrol in a kindergarten program.

The Queensland Government is working with Childcare Queensland and C&K, and other early childhood education and care stakeholders, to implement Queensland's plan to provide all children with access to a kindergarten program.

The delivery of universal access to kindergarten will build on the Queensland Government's successful introduction of the Prep year in 2007.

For more information

^ Top of page

This page was last reviewed on 04 May 2012 at 03:13PM