How kindergarten places are allocated
To ensure a fair, equitable and transparent allocation of kindergarten places, each registration is given weighting points based on the Department of Education (DoE) Priority of Access and our local criteria. We make every effort to offer your child a place at one of your preferred kindergartens.
If you have only listed one preferred kindergarten, or we are unable to offer you any of your other preferred kindergartens, we will attempt to offer your child a place at the next closest kindergarten with availability.
Three and four-year-old kindergarten places are allocated separately. Every effort will be made to place children at the same service for Three and four -year-old kindergarten. Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee this due to Government Regulatory space and ratio requirements for kindergartens.
City of Casey will endeavor to place siblings at the same service and or group/sessions. There are times due to limited vacancies that this may not be possible. In these circumstances families can choose to remain on the waiting for the same service/group or accept the offer to different services and or groups and request a transfer.
What is the Priority of Access?
The Priority of Access is how kindergarten places are allocated. The Department of Education has developed the following criteria to identify a high priority child:
- children at risk of abuse or neglect, including Out-of-Home-Care
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
- asylum seeker and refugee children
- children eligible for the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy
- children who have an additional need, defined as children who: those who need additional assistance in order to fully participate in the kindergarten program, require a combination of services which are individually planned or have an identified specific disability or developmental delay.
Children who fit into the following local criteria will be given priority after we have allocated high priority children:
- children who are in receipt of a second year of four-year-old kindergarten funding, and/or
- children of City of Casey residents and ratepayers
- is attending one of our funded three-year-old kindergarten.
Key dates
| Stage | Date |
Kindergarten offers Three and four-year-old kindergarten places are allocated separately. Every effort will be made to place my child at the same service for four-year-old kindergarten. However, there is no guarantee of this. | From August |
| Enrolment into Kindergarten (for Casey managed kindergartens) | November and December |
| Kindergarten program begins | End of January |
When you should receive an offer
We will begin offering kindergarten places in August of the year before your child's kindergarten year. We issue offers on an ongoing basis over several months. If you have been offered a kindergarten place, you will be sent an email and SMS. The offer email will contain a link allowing you to accept or decline the kindergarten offer.
If you haven't received an offer
We issue offers in stages so not everyone will receive their offer at the same time. Not all available places at each kindergarten are allocated in the first round of offers.
Responding to your offer
To respond to your offer, click on the link in the offer email and select your response. You must respond to your offer within 5 business days of receiving notification that an offer has been placed on your portal account.
If a family is having difficulties accessing the link in the email they can call Council and ask for the Kindergarten Enrolment and Planning Team to respond.
If you fail to respond, your offer will be cancelled, and your child will be removed from the waitlist and will not receive future offers.
Your options
1. Accept the offer
By accepting the offer, you confirm your child will attend the kindergarten offered.
2. Decline and remain on the waiting list.
You will be required to resubmit your kindergarten preferences.
3. Remove from the wait list – this will cancel your child’s registration.
By selecting to cancel the offer, you are cancelling your child's kindergarten registration. We will remove your child from the waiting list and we will not issue any further offers.
You can find a list of early childhood learning centres and private kindergartens on the Department of Education and Training website.
What is a kindergarten wait list?
Kindergarten wait-lists occur when there are more registrations than places. Vacancies are created when either an offer has been declined or expired, or families withdraw after a place has been accepted. If you are on the waiting list, we will only contact you if a place becomes available.
We cannot tell you where your child is placed on the waiting list, as the waiting list is constantly changing.