central registrations for kindergarten places framework ... web viewa framework and resource guide...

A Framework and Resource Guide for Managing a Central Registrations

Process for Kindergarten Places

Municipal Association of Victoria

January 2013

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Central Registrations Framework and Resource Guide – January 2013

© Copyright Municipal Association of Victoria, 2011.

The MAV is the statutory peak body for local government in Victoria, representing all79 municipalities. The MAV has prepared this work to assist councils. The MAV would also like to acknowledge the contribution of those who provided their comments and advice during this project. The MAV would like to acknowledge the Centre or Community Child Health and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. BACKGROUND 4

3. POLICY CONTEXT 5

4. CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF ANY CENTRAL REGISTRATION POLICY 7

5. CENTRAL REGISTRATION POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT 7

6. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 12

7. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR COUNCILS 13

8. POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 13

APPENDICES

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1. Introduction

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) in partnership with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) has developed this Framework and Resource Guide to assist councils with their processes for planning, implementing and managing centralised kindergarten enrolment and allocation policies.

Victorian councils play a major role in planning, developing and implementing the local early years system of which the provision and/or management of kindergarten services is a primary part. A centralised registration process for kindergarten services in a municipality is a key planning tool and can provide data and information to assist councils in their overall early years service planning.

The Framework and Resource Guide is designed to provide a detailed overview of the processes required for the development and management of a central registration process and subsequent allocation of kindergarten places.

2. Background

It is understood that in 2011, 39 of Victoria’s 79 local government councils had some form of policy regarding the management and allocation of kindergarten places in their municipality. This function is sometimes delivered by a Kindergarten Cluster Manager in collaboration with council. A review of the policies demonstrates a rangeof different approaches to the process across local areas. The growth in the birth rate in Victoria since 2006 and the Universal Access requirements means that managingdemand for kindergarten places will continue to be an important activity for local government. The birth rate in Victoria continues to rise each year and this impacts onthe number of kindergarten places required. Universal Access requirements will place further pressure on services in 2013 and managing the demand for places will continue to be an important activity for local government.

The development of this Framework and Resource Guide had its genesis due to a number of intersecting issues that arose in recent years relating to demand pressures and planning priorities. In addition there are key drivers for central registration policies and processes. These include: planning purposes – having a more accurate understanding of service capacity and places; waiting lists andvacancies and assisting in the minimisation of duplicated waiting lists; and supporting and understanding the implications of Universal Access to Early Childhood Educationand Care in 2013. Further, as long day care becomes a more important service typein the delivery of funded kindergarten services in Victoria, the need for more comprehensive systems to manage demand and supply becomes more urgent.

DEECD provides guidance to funded kindergarten services on enrolment policies through the Victorian Kindergarten Guide 20131

This includes policies assisting registration, enrolments, access and inclusion that support children experiencing disadvantage, address issues of eligibility, and meet legislative requirements.

Demand pressures from population growth and cases referred to the Victorian EqualOpportunity and Human Rights Commission have highlighted the importance of

1 The Kindergarten Guide, DEECD 2103:pg18

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providing further guidance and advice to the sector on kindergarten registration policies and Priority of Access criteria.

A project undertaken by the Centre for Community Child Health in 2010-11 recommended that a key strategy to managing the overall services planning for kindergarten places in a municipality was to implement a Central Registration process within all municipalities.

Encourage comprehensive, appropriate central registration processes supported by appropriate IT systems to avoid duplication of effort. Use the outcomes of the MAV led central registration project and findings from relevant LGAs in this project to drive the approach. A mechanism to ensure comprehensive central approaches to registration and management of places in all settings should be a core requirement of kindergarten funding.2

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement to implement universal access to kindergarten for 15 hours per week by 2013 foreshadowed a significant change to delivery of kindergarten services. A Central Registration process can be a valuable tool for local areas in planning and change management for services to meet this requirement. For those councils who do not currently provide a central registration process, implementing one provides a mechanism to support them in their planning role.

3. Policy Context

The purpose and use of this Framework and Resource Guide is to provide councils with a resource that supports them in the following ways:

a) Provides a Framework to either review current central registration policies or develop a new policy

b) Provides a set of guiding principles to assist in managing access to kindergarten places

c) Provides a policy context to avoid enrolment policies which may result in less favourable treatment of children on the basis of protected characteristics suchas disability, age, race and sex.

Local, state and federal early years and social inclusion policies provide an important context for early years services. At a local level, councils have their own policies relating to families and children and the community which can assist in identifying local planning priorities and processes. These can include a council’s Disability Strategy and Municipal Early Years Plan.

Two consistent themes across the various levels of policy include:

Support for vulnerable children and children with special needs Access to and affordability of quality early childhood education

The National Quality Framework

The National Quality Framework came into effect on 1 January 2012 with key requirements being phased in over time. Requirements such as qualifications,

2 Centre for Community Child Health – Kindergarten Participation Project: 2011

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educator-to-child ratios and other key staffing arrangements are being phased in between 2012 and 2020.The new system replaces existing state and territory licensing and national quality assurance processes for the majority of early years services.

The objectives of the National Quality Framework are: to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of children attending education and

care services

to improve the educational and developmental outcomes for children attending education and care services

to promote continuous improvement in the provision of quality education and care services

to establish a system of national integration and shared responsibility between participating jurisdictions and the Commonwealth in the administration of the National Quality Framework

to improve public knowledge, and access to information, about the quality of education and care services

to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden for education and care services by enabling information to be shared between participating jurisdictions and the Commonwealth.

There is a range of policy documents that provide a broader context in which the central registration process fits. Reference to these documents can be found in Appendix 1.

Partnership with local government

In May 2008 the Victorian State-Local Government Agreement (VSLGA) was signed between the Victorian Government and the Municipal Association of Victorian (MAV). The MAV is the legislated peak body for local government in Victoria. The VSLGA sets out agreed principles to guide state-local government relations, and acknowledges the key role of local government in improving coordination and strategic planning of government services at the local level.

The Victorian Government acknowledges the key leadership role of local government. The Victorian Government will continue to work in partnership with local government to ensure that integrated children’s services are in place across theState where and when families need them. In August 2009 the MAV and the Department signed a formal partnership agreement, which articulates the commitment of each to a collaborative and cooperative approach to the planning and delivery of early childhood services.

Local councils are responsible for strategic local area planning and often have strategic land use and infrastructure plans in place at the neighbourhood level. The Municipal Association of Victoria-Early Childhood Development Group Partnership Working Group was established to support state/local government planning and service delivery in early childhood services. This group collaborates on a number of joint projects including this one. The membership of the working group formed for this project can be found at Appendix 2.

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4. Critical Elements of any Central Registration Policy

The following five points are considered to be critical when developing any CentralRegistration policy.

Fair and equitable kindergarten enrolment policies Avoiding policies that use age based criteria that may treat eligible children

less favourably Victorian Kindergartens Priority of Access criteria which is detailed in The

Kindergarten Guide 2013 released in January 2013 Transparent decision making and how decisions are communicated to

families Adherence with Privacy legislation

5. Central Registration Policy Development and Management

In developing or reviewing a policy on central registration for applications for a kindergarten place, there are a number of key considerations that must now be taken into account. The majority of councils in Victoria manage a centralised process for kindergarten registration that is designed to assist local families with enrolling for a kindergarten service. Often these schemes allow families to nominate ‘preferred’ kindergarten centre(s) for attendance.

Sometimes there are more eligible children seeking a place at a centre than there are places available. When this situation occurs it becomes necessary for the council or the service to adopt a process to assist in the decision around the order in which eligible children will be offered places at that centre.

In making a decision about how to allocate places it is important that the service considers the following very carefully:

a) Fair and equitable kindergarten registration and allocation of places policy

b) Avoiding policies that use age based criteria that may differentiate eligible children less favourably

c) Prioritising Access to Kindergarten Places d) Minimising waiting listse) Policies for offering places

a) Fair and equitable kindergarten registration and allocation of places policy

The Education Care Services National Regulations provide that early childhood services must have policies and procedures which include policies on Enrolment and Orientation (Division 2 – Policies and Procedures: Regulation 168). In addition the Victorian Children’s Services Regulations 2009 require services to ensureinformation about admission requirements and enrolment procedures is available for

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inspection3. The Victorian Kindergarten Guide 2013 states that kindergarten service providers must ensure their policies:

Promote fair and equitable access to kindergarten programs Support all eligible children to access a kindergarten program, including those

who face barriers to participation Do not inadvertently present barriers to participation

In order to achieve this objective, services need to make sure their registration/enrolment policies:

comply with legislative requirements, including anti-discrimination and human rights laws 4

are developed on the basis of local need determined by surveys of the local community

support children who are experiencing disadvantage address issues of eligibility for funded places, vacant funded places and

vacant unfunded places outline how waiting lists will be prioritised are effectively communicated to families and the local community5.

The Kindergarten Guide 2013 DEECD: 2013, pgs. 18-20. provides details of the requirements of services to manage access to kindergarten places by ensuring their kindergarten enrolment policies are fair and equitable. Services should be aware that all children eligible to attend kindergarten in the year before school are entitled to equal access to enrolment and allocation of a place in accordance with anti- discrimination and human rights laws.6

b) Avoiding policies that may result in less favourable treatment of eligible children on the basis of protected characteristics including age.

Central registration schemes and services need to consider whether their enrolment/registration policies could result in less favourable treatment of children on the basis of protected characteristics such as disability, age, race and sex. These include registration policies which impact adversely on younger children within the eligible cohort, such as policies prioritising date of application where applications may be made only once a child reaches a certain age or policies which prioritise applications on the basis of a child’s date of birth.

Prioritising applications using age related criteria

The following practice principles apply to prioritising applications if using criteriarelated to a child’s age:

Services may choose to accept applications for kindergarten enrolment once a child turns a certain age however, the date of the application received should not be used to prioritise the application as this often results in the oldest children in a cohort receiving a higher priority.

3 p.38 Children’s Services Regulations 20094 Services may elect to seek independent legal advice if concerned about the compliance of their policies5 The Kindergarten Guide 2013 pg. 186

The Kindergarten Guide 2013 pg. 18

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Services may choose to accept applications for kindergarten registration from a certain date for all children eligible to attend in a nominated year, with the date of application then used to prioritise the application. Care should be taken not to indirectly discriminate against children in families who may be unable to register/enroll early, such as those who experience vulnerability, are transient, are new to the area, from a CALD background, have low literacy, or are generally not engaged. In many cases these children may be eligible for places that may have been reserved for ‘Priority of Access’ children.

Applications for kindergarten enrolment could be received during an assigned period for all eligible children to attend in a nominated year. Applying within or outside the assigned period could be used as a scored criterion to assist with prioritising applications. For example, applications received within the timeframe could be given the same score for that criterion, while those received outside the application period could be given a lower score.

c) Prioritising Access to Kindergarten Places

DEECD has provided the following Priority of Access guidelines7 for services to use when there is a waiting list for a kindergarten service, or when a number of families are applying for a limited number of vacant funded places. The guidelines are designed to assist children at risk of disadvantage to access funded kindergarten programs and reflect the Commonwealth Government guidelines on priority for allocating places in approved child care services. The following table gives a guide to children who should be given priority of access to a funded kindergarten program.

Table 1: Priority Categories

High Priority Children Process that could be used to verifyneed/s

Children at risk of abuse or neglect Verification or referral from a professional service provider:

Child Protection Child and family services

information, referral and support team( child First)/Family Services

Maternal and Child HealthNurse

Attendance at Early StartKindergarten

Children in Aboriginal and/or TorresStrait Islander families

Family identifies the child as anAboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Children with additional needs,defined as children:

who require additionalassistance in order to fully

The child is: approved for Kindergarten

Inclusion Support Package, or

7 DEECD The Kindergarten Guide 2013 pg. 19

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participate in the kindergarten program

who require a combination of services which are individually planned

who have an identified specific disability or developmentaldelay

referred by:

- Early Childhood Intervention Service- Preschool Field Officer- Maternal and Child Health Nurse or

Enhanced Home Visiting Nurse- Child Disability Health Care Card

Policy and procedures need to be designed to allow high priority children to move to a priority list for a funded kindergarten program. Central registration/enrolment schemes and service providers need to apply appropriate sensitivity and confidentiality to the process of identifying children as high priority and managing this information. Practices of verifying can be discriminatory and/or act as a barrier to participation.

Where possible, service providers should build flexibility into their processes that take into account the circumstances of vulnerable families. Some enrolment schemes reserve places in the group(s) for late applications from high priority children.Services will need to determine at what date unfilled reserved places are made available to other children on the waiting list (see Appendix 5)

d) Minimising Waiting Lists

In order to minimize waiting lists based on central registration data, services should develop program models that optimize the number of available places and ensure that they are working with the most accurate data available. It is evident that there are many council areas where there are multiple waiting lists in use which may lead to an inaccurate picture of demand in the municipality. Where councils might need assistance in planning this they should contact DEECD or MAV for further advice.

The Kindergarten Participation Project conducted in 2010/11 in nine municipalities found that:

There was demand for more kindergarten places than were currently available in these municipalities

There was potential to implement additional places within the existing early years infrastructure and there was increasing demand for long day models that suit workforce participation

Services are often willing to make changes and only need a small amount of assistance and support to take up the available opportunities

There were a range of activities found to be effective in delivering additional places. The most successful of these involved direct approaches to both services and families to ensure that existing infrastructure in the municipality was being used at optimal capacity.

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e) Policies for Offering Places

For those children who are not identified as eligible for priority of access to a funded kindergarten program, central registration schemes and services may apply one or more locally agreed criteria to prioritise their list of applicants and determine the order in which offers are made. It is important to note that whilst the criteria may be guided by government policy, they should be determined locally.

The criteria may include such things as:

Criteria related to the residential address of the family, for example

- children who live in the municipality- children whose families are in the process of moving to the

municipality- children whose caregiver lives in the municipality.

Giving priority to residents (not ratepayers) can deal with difficult issues where centres are located near the boundary with another municipality. Weighting this criteria may minimise the impacts of non-residents receiving priority over residents. However other criteria may be required to embrace the notion of communities of interest so that municipal boundaries are not barriers to families attending services that are close to them. Thus other criteria may need to be considered such as:

Residential proximity to the service, for example

- children who reside within X distance of the centre- applicants are allocated places in order of the closest

residential proximity to the service

Criteria for non-resident families

- the child’s parent/guardian is working within the municipality- the child’s parent/guardian is studying or volunteering within the

municipality- the child has a family member who resides in the municipality- the child has sibling/s attending a school or another service

within the same neighbourhood as the service- the child attends a registered child care service within the

municipality, suburb or neighbourhood

Criteria relating to families with a demonstrable link to the service for example

- the child has a sibling who is enrolled and attending this service

- the child has a sibling who previously was enrolled or attendedthis service (may choose to specify ‘...in the past 2 years’).

Where more than one criteria will be used to decide the order in which eligible children will be offered places, consideration should be given to the number of‘points’ to be awarded for each of the criteria or how each criteria might be‘weighted’.

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In cases where there are more applicants with the same number of points than places available, some councils use a ballot to select who receives an offer.

f) Second Year of Funded Kindergarten Year

Part B of The Kindergarten Guide 2013 provides guidelines for a second year of funded kindergarten. Some children may benefit from a further year of kindergarten in the year before school. Funding for a second year of kindergarten requires an assessment by the child’s teacher and submission of a ‘Declaration of eligibility for a second year of funded kindergarten’ form to DEECD.

All requests for a second year of funded kindergarten will need to be notified by a specified date to the council officer responsible for managing the centralised process, with eligibility confirmed by a signed copy of the ‘Declaration of eligibility for asecond year of funded kindergarten’ form.. A place needs to be allocated to these children preferably at the same service or at another service where there is a vacant place.

6. Other Considerations

a) Central Registration Administration Fee

Currently, many councils who manage a centralised registration process charge an administration fee at the time a person makes their application. The amount of the fee varies from council to council and it is for individual councils to make a determination as to:

i) whether they are going to charge an administration fee; and ii) how much that fee will be.

A key consideration regarding the charging of an administration fee is that this fee should not prohibit vulnerable families from applying for a place at a kindergarten.

b) Collection and Storage of Information

Services need to apply appropriate sensitivities to the collection and sharing of information from families so that it does not act as a barrier to their participation in a kindergarten program. Councils should refer to the Privacy Act and their own internal policies to ensure compliance.

Councils might also like to explore the collection of information such as that collected and provided by the Maternal and Child Health program and birth notifications as a means of planning for the number of kindergarten places that will be required in the future.

c) Linking with Other Council Documents

Municipal Early Years PlansMunicipal Early Years Plans (MEYP) are local area plans designed to provide a strategic direction for the development and coordination of education, care and health programs, activities and other local developments that impact on children and now youth. All councils have undertaken this early years planning process, which considers the specific needs of the municipality. In most cases, MEYPs include, but are not limited to, services that are funded and/or delivered by councils. For more

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information on Municipal Early Years Planning visit MAV’s website atwww.m av. asn. au

Further, all councils are encouraged to develop a Municipal Early Years Plan of which the provision and/or management of kindergarten places is an important part. A Central Registration process can become an integral tool that will support this planning.

Access and Equity Policies and Anti-Discrimination policiesAny central registration policy should be ‘tested’ against council’s other policies.

d) Developing Protocols with Other Organisations

Councils should consider developing protocols with other organisations such as ChildFIRST, Family Services, Child Protection Services and Early Start to ensure access and processes for engaging families at risk and with a level of vulnerability.

7. Communication Strategies for Councils

The Victorian Kindergarten Guide 2013 is a regular publication provided by DEECD to assist organisations currently receiving or wanting to apply for kindergarten funding. It is also a guide that informs early childhood services about the Victorian kindergarten program. From time to time DEECD issues supplements to the current edition to keep the sector informed of any policy changes and it is important for services to avail themselves of this information to ensure their policies remain up to date.

Councils should ensure that any Central Registration Policy and Process is clearly communicated to their community. It is suggested that a feature of any communication strategy could be that all Kindergartens and Long Day Care services offering a funded kindergarten program are now under the one National Quality Framework and that all these services will be assessed and rated over a period of time using a robust and detailed process to ensure they are offering a quality kindergarten program.

Councils should also communicate to their Committees of Management and others responsible for the allocation of kindergarten places such as a Kindergarten or Child Care Director that using aged based criteria to allocate a kindergarten place is to be avoided.

8. Policy Development Process

Each council has its own policy development procedures and processes in place. However there are some common steps that can be followed in the process of developing policy documents. The following provides an overview of the steps that may be taken in developing a central registration policy.

a) Assembling key information – refer to current policies of likeorganisations and relevant legislative documents to inform the policyinputs.

b)

Develop a draft policy setting out such things as:

Overall aim of having the policy

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Priority of Access criteriaReferences to DEECD guidelines

How families are to apply and what evidence is to be provided How applications are going to be accepted and what administration fee is to

be charged How and when places are going to be allocated with regard to minimising

waiting lists and optimising use of all places available How information will be collected, used and stored How second year applications will be managed How any requests for changes to applications will be managed

c) Seek feedback on any draft policy through council channels – e.g. Legal Financial (regarding fees and administration charges) and key critical reviewers who will assist in refining the policy for final sign off.

d) Think about how the policy links in with other key goals in the MEYP and other planning and management processes of the council e.g. Kindergarten Cluster Management.

e) Draft the policy ensuring it is documented in a way that also assists communication of its purpose and proposed approach.

f) Seek endorsement of the policy through the appropriate council channels. At this point it is useful to nominate a person who will be responsible for ensuring the policy is followed all the way through to endorsement.

g) Communication and implementation of the policy needs to be clear particularly with regard to timeframes and responsibilities.

h) Monitoring and review of the implementation of the policy and impacts on the community, services and any other stakeholders.

A central registration process for the allocation of kindergarten places that is well developed, understood by the community and services and clear in its policies and processes can support a municipality from the individual applicant, through to providing councils with another piece of information to support their Municipal Early Years Planning processes.

Engaging children in high-quality learning experiences benefits all children and their families. Current research shows that improving access for vulnerable families tohigh-quality early childhood programs can ameliorate the effects of disadvantage and thus it is incumbent on those providing or managing the services to improve theaccess and equity of children to allow them to benefit from attending such a program.

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Appendices

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Appendix 1

List of Resources

a) Examples of council central registration policies can be found (but are not limited to) these website addresses.

htt p: // www. dar ebin.vic. gov. au

htt p: // www.m elt on. vic. g ov. au

htt p: // www. latr obe.vic. g ov. au

b) Relevant Legislative documents

Children’s Services Act 1996 Children’s Services Regulations 1998 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Commonwealth) Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Victoria) Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Commonwealth) Information Privacy Act 2000 Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010

c) Other documents and references

Victorian Kindergarten Guide 2013

Increasing Kindergarten Participation Project - Final Reportht t p : / / ww w . k p v . o r g.au - for model policies

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Appendix 2

Membership of the Central Registration Working Group

Representatives from the following organisations:

Department of Education and Early Childhood DevelopmentMunicipal Association of VictoriaKindergarten Parents VictoriaFrankston City CouncilHume City CouncilKnox City Council Melton Shire Council Moonee Valley City Council Moreland City Council Shepparton City Council Wodonga City Council Wyndham City Council

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Appendix 3

CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1Two families with children who will be eligible to attend a funded kindergarten program in 2015 apply on different dates for the same program at Littleton Kindergarten. This service has an enrolment policy that enables families to apply to enrol their child in a funded kindergarten program once the child has turned two years of age.

Loc Tran turns two years of age on 12 October 2012 and the family submit an application on the 15th October 2012 to enrol him in a funded kindergarten program in 2015.

Kim Weston turns two years of age on the 25th February 2013 and the family apply on that date to enrol her in a funded kindergarten program in 2015.

In this instance, the service should not use the date of application to prioritise the application for Loc over the application for Kim. This is because both children are in the same eligible age cohort and using the date of application in this way would disadvantage the younger child Kim who should be given equal access to the 2015 kindergarten program on the basis of age.

Littleton Kindergarten should consider using other locally agreed criteria not related to the birth date of the child to prioritise applications within the eligible cohort.

Case Study 2

From the 1st April each year Gladesville Community Kindergarten opens applications for kindergarten enrolment for children eligible to attend a funded kindergarten program in the following year. All families with eligible children can apply from that date. Applications are then prioritised according to the date of application.

The Ryan family has a child, Liam, who will turn four years of age on the 15th

January 2013. The family applies on the 1st April 2012 to enrol Liam into a funded kindergarten program in 2013.

The Barrossi family has a child, Helen, who will turn four years of age on the22nd October 2012. The family applies on the 26th May 2012 to enrol Helen into a funded kindergarten program in 2013.

In this case, the application to enrol Liam was received earlier and will be given priority over the application to enrol Heleni. This policy approach does not use age or any other protected attributes to prioritise applications within the eligible cohort.

Case Study 3

Altwood Kindergarten accepts applications for enrolment in their funded kindergarten program during the period 1 February to 30 June each year for children who will be eligible to attend in the following year. The service has a priority of access policy that gives high priority to ‘at risk’ children, including those at risk of abuse and neglect. In addition, the service uses a range of weighted criteria and a cumulative score to prioritise applications received.

All families who apply within the allocated period are given the same maximum score against their date of application. Applications submitted after 30 June receive a

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lower score against the date of application, with the score progressively decreasing towards the end of the year. This policy approach means that factors other than age are used to determine how applications are prioritised.

The Brown family applies to enrol their son on the 3rd February 2012, and the Kumar family completes an application for enrolment for their daughter on the 21st June2012. Both families receive the same maximum score for the date of application. The Grant family submit an application on the 2nd August 2012 and receive a lower score against the date of application; however, they may score higher on other criteria depending on their circumstances.

Elisha Wood is referred to the kindergarten on 16th August by a Child Protection Officer. Elisha is identified by the service as a child at risk of abuse or neglect and moves to the top of the waiting list. Elisha’s family will be offered a place at the kindergarten in the first round of offers.

In this example, a range of factors other than age are used to determine where families are placed on the priority list.

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Appendix 4

Conceptual frameworkA conceptual framework of how services might apply the priority of access guidelines and practice principles is provided. The framework is provided as an example only. It should not be considered as the only suitable approach to managing access to kindergarten places.

Table 2: Conceptual framework for managing kindergarten registration and enrolment processes

Timeline for application and offer process

A p pl i c a t ion P e r iod The application period may commence 1, 2 or 3 years prior to cohort year for all children eligible to attend in the cohort year.

Services may use rounds to give priority weighting to applications if required.

A service may elect to receive an application for enrolment on or after a child’s birthday. However in the circumstances, the date of application should not be used to prioritise the application.

Off er and A l l o c a t ion

P e r iod Late applications continue to be accepted in this period.

Kinde r g a r t en Y e a r

For exampleCOHORT 2015

Must be 4 years old by 30 April2015

Jan 2013

Round A

July 2013

Round B

January 2014

Round C

July2014

Round1

Sept2014

Round2

Dec2014

Round3

Feb2015

Year begins

Priority of Access policy

High priority children, as identified in government of service provider policy move straight to the top of the registration list

Reserve some places in groups offered in rounds 1 and 2 to hold for late application from high priority children

Close off reserved place end November or December. Late enrolments then offered places where vacancies exist.

Policy for prioritising the offer of places

Other children may have a weighting applied if needed to give a preference scale for the offer of places. Factors may be guided by government policy but should be determined locally and may include such things as:

Residential proximity to the funded kindergarten program

Siblings attend the service

Round in which application received.

Develop service models to accommodate demand. After high priority children are allocated to groups, start allocation to groups in preferred centresin accordance with weighted registration list

By February all eligible children in the list have been offered a place (not necessarily at a first preference centre where demand exceeds capacity)

Late enrolments offered places where vacancies exist.