Enrolment

How to Enrol

All four-year-old ACT children are guaranteed a place in a public preschool. However, you are not guaranteed a place at the preschool site of your preference, due to capacity constraints at some sites. You are encouraged to apply for the preschool for your local primary school (or NSW Pathway school for NSW residents), which offers you the greatest continuity for the transition to kindergarten. All preschools offer a high-quality early childhood education.

Preschool places are not allocated on a first come first served basis. Preschool applications are prioritised in this order:

1. Individual circumstances based on student wellbeing.
2. ACT-resident siblings of students concurrently enrolled in the primary school (ie: applicants who will be attending the school in the same year as a currently enrolled student).
3. Children living within the Priority Enrolment Area (PEA) of the primary school, up to the limits of available places.

Where there are not enough places for all children living in the PEA of the primary school, applications will be ranked by ‘proximity’, that is the distance that your child lives from the preschool. The distance is measured ‘as the crow flies’.

The Directorate will find a place for all other children at a preschool, considering where your child lives and the capacity available.

Please note: A number of preschools are experiencing high demand for places from their local families**. At these high-demand preschools, applicants who do not meet the prioritisation criteria, will be allocated to:

• the preschool of the primary school in their Priority Enrolment Area where capacity exists, or
• the closest preschool to their home with capacity.

For more information, please refer to the ACT Education Directorate's website:

https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/enrolling-in-a-public-school

Following Enrolment

Incoming preschool families are given the opportunity to attend an information evening to learn more about Preschool and children are invited to a Come and play morning session at the Preschool. Families are also offered an appointment in the year prior to commencing to share information about themselves and their early childhood development (from birth) so that we can facilitate a positive transition to preschool, responsive to individual children's needs.