Early Years

School Readiness Funding Menu

More than 500 Victorian kindergarten services were advised last month of the amount of school readiness funding they will receive in 2019 from the Department of Education and Training.

School readiness funding is a $58.1 million initiative that aims to reduce the impact of educational disadvantage on children’s learning and development outcomes. Next year, kindergartens in the first roll-out areas (across 25 local government areas) will receive between $1000 and more than $200,000. This funding will be used by kindergarten services to enhance their programs and better support children’s learning and development in three priority areas: communication (language development); wellbeing (social and emotional); and access and inclusion.

Kindergartens will spend most of their funding on items selected from a preliminary menu of evidence-informed programs and supports, available on the DET School Readiness Funding Menu. The items on this menu align with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF).

The aim of this initiative is for more children to receive high-quality educational experiences so that they thrive in kindergarten. The funding offers a great opportunity for kindergartens to engage with schools to identify key areas of need and plan for the delivery of educational services that support children throughout their time at kindergarten and into their school years.

School readiness funding will be rolled out to all Victorian kindergartens by 2021. Similar to the equity funding that schools receive, school readiness funding allocations have been determined based on the education and occupation of parents of children enrolled in the service. More information, including which areas will receive funding first, is available on the DET website.

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