Free Kinder in Victoria: what it means for your family
Victoria's Free Kinder funding has made a real difference to what families pay for kindergarten. Here is what it covers, who is eligible, and how it works when kinder runs inside a long day care centre like Kids Kingdom.
Key takeaways
Free Kinder funding supports both the 3 and 4-year-old kindergarten years in Victoria.
At an integrated centre, the funded kinder program runs inside the normal day, led by a qualified teacher.
The Child Care Subsidy still reduces the long day care around the funded kinder hours.
The funding
What Free Kinder actually covers
Free Kinder is Victorian Government funding that significantly reduces, and in many sessional settings removes, the cost of the kindergarten program for 3 and 4-year-olds. It is aimed at the kindergarten program itself, delivered by a qualified kindergarten teacher, rather than the wider childcare around it.
Two funded years
Victoria funds a kindergarten program for both three and four-year-olds. Our guide to 3-year-old vs 4-year-old kinder explains how the two years differ.
How it works here
Free Kinder inside long day care
At Kids Kingdom, kindergarten is integrated, which means the funded program runs inside your child's regular day, with the same educators and no separate kinder location. The Free Kinder funding supports the kindergarten hours, and the Child Care Subsidy reduces the long day care around them, so families get a full, teacher-led kinder year without the standalone sessional-kinder juggle.
Next step
Working out your family's cost
Because Free Kinder and the Child Care Subsidy work together, the simplest way to understand your real cost is to see both applied to your enrolment days. Our CCS calculator estimates the long day care side, and our team can explain how the funded kinder hours fit. You can also see the full picture on the childcare fees page.
“Free Kinder plus the subsidy means many families access a full teacher-led kinder year for far less than they expect.”
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