Registration Form 2025 - 3 Year Old

Registration Form 2025 - 3 year old Kindergarten

RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS (if different to postal address above):

Please indicate your preferred kindergarten by ticking the box in each Kindergarten preference below.

In completing this NERPSA Registration Form I acknowledge that I have read and understood the attached NERPSA Enrolment Policy Summary. I formally request a position for the year 2025 and will proceed with the enrolment upon its confirmation.

All information given on the Registration Form is deemed to be true. If any information given is found to be incorrect the Kindergarten position may be rescinded.

Children must be turning three by 30th April 2025 to register, however, are unable to commence until they have turned three.

Thank you for your information

Registration For A Place

• NERPSA will determine the period during which registrations are able to be received for offer of places in the funded kindergarten programs for the following year.

• A separate registration form must be completed for each child, and for each proposed year of attendance at the service.

• To facilitate the inclusion of all children into the program, the registration form should clearly identify any additional or specific needs of the child (refer to Inclusion and Equity Policy).

• Completed registration forms are to be forwarded to the NERPSA office.

• Access to completed registration forms will be restricted to the person responsible for the enrolment process and staff at the service unless otherwise specified by NERPSA.

• Registrations will be entered on the waiting list using the eligibility and priority of access criteria.

• Registrations received after the closing date will be considered if there are available places, and after all other applicants have been offered a place, in line with the eligibility and priority of access criteria of NERPSA.

Offer of Places

• Places will be offered in writing to applicants in accordance with the eligibility and priority of access criteria of the service making clear that confirmation of places is not final until an up-to-date ACIR Immunisation History Statement has been received, assessed and found acceptable.

• NERPSA requires parents/guardians who have been offered a place to provide an up-to-date ACIR Immunisation History Statement for assessment two months prior to the child first attending the service in order that a confirmed place can be offered.

• Parents/guardians who do not have an up-to-date ACIR Immunisation History Statement and whose child is not eligible for the grace period are unable to commence at a service until acceptable documentation is provided.

• Parents/guardians who do not wish to accept the offer of a place, or intend to withdraw their enrolment, are requested to notify NERPSA in writing as soon as possible.

• Where the individual service provides more than one funded kindergarten program, places within the programs will be allocated by the individual service after confirmation of acceptance of a place.

Eligibility And Priority Of Access Criteria For Funded Kindergarten Programs

The following children are eligible for attendance in funded kindergarten programs:

• Children who turn three years of age by 30 April in the year they will attend funded three-year-old kindergarten (two years before they attend school.  A child must have turned three before beginning to attend the service).
• Children who turn four years of age by 30 April in the year they will attend funded four-year old kindergarten (one year before they attend school).

NOTE: For children born between 1 January and 30 April, parents have a choice about whether they commence school in the year they turn five or in the following year when they turn six. They can therefore choose whether they commence four-year-old Kindergarten in the year they turn four or the year they turn five and three-year-old Kindergarten in the year they turn three or the year they turn four

• Children who have been granted approval to receive funding for a second year of four-year-old kindergarten
• Children turning six years of age in their year at kindergarten who have been granted an exemption from school- entry age requirements by their regional office of the DE (Refer to DE Victorian Kindergarten policy, procedures and funding criteria).
• Children who are younger than the eligible age, but whose parents/guardians have submitted a written request for their child to attend school the following year to their regional office of the DE, or the non-government school their child will be attending (a copy of the written request and DE approval must be attached with the registration).

NOTE: Parents/guardians are to be advised that very few requests are approved by DE. If the child attends kindergarten early but does not proceed on to school the following year the child will be unable to access another year unless they are funded by DE for a second year.

• Three-year-old Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children known to Child Protection have an ability to attend up to 15 hours a week of a funded early childhood program planned and delivered by a qualified early childhood teacher (Early Start Kindergarten program).

First priority of access is given to:

• Children at risk of abuse or neglect, including children in Out of Home Care
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
• Asylum Seeker and Refugee Children
• Children with additional needs
• Children eligible for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy

Second priority of access is given to:

• Children who have received funding for a second year 4-year-old of Kindergarten
• Children who have had siblings attend their preferred Kindergarten
• Children whose nearest kindergarten to their place of residence is a rural kindergarten (Glenrowan, Moyhu, Whorouly, Whitfield and Chiltern will be given priority of access to that rural kindergarten).

Remaining places will be allocated by ballot.

Exceptional circumstances that require consideration beyond the eligibility and priority of access criteria should be made in writing and will be reviewed by NERPSA on a case-by-case basis.

NOTE: Priority of Access guidelines are to ensure that kindergarten programs are available to those children who stand to benefit the most from attending early education. In mixed age groups, guidelines will equally prioritise three and four-year-old children for first priority of access. Where programs for three and four-year-old children are provided separately the priority of access criteria will be applied separately for each age cohort.

In order to be offered a place at a Kindergarten, Victorian legislation which commenced on January 1, 2016 requires that a child must be:

• Fully immunised or up-to-date according to the Immunisation Schedule Victoria; or
• On a catch-up vaccination schedule; or
• Has a medical condition preventing them from being vaccinated.

An immunisation status certificate will be required to accompany the Registration Form in order for the enrolment to be considered. The required certificate from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) can be requested at any time by contacting Medicare:

• Phone 1800 653 809
• Email acir@medicareaustralia.gov.at
• Visit the Medicare website
• Visit your local Medicare office

If the required certificate is unable to be provided, options will need to be discussed with NERPSA as to the enrolment registration. If a child's next vaccinations are due up to two months before Kindergarten commences, a new immunisation status certificate is required to be provided to NERPSA before the child is able to commence.