Kinder in Victoria will be free for Term 3.
Children will also be supported to learn from home as part of a relief package to support early childhood services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for Education James Merlino has announced an extension to the free sessional kinder support and a further $1.6 million in grants to help deliver early childhood education to kids learning from home.
“We’re providing a funding boost to give sessional kinders financial certainty and to help kinder kids receive their vital early learning while they are at home,” he said.
Kinders can use the extra funding to access a range of online programs containing high-quality play-based learning activities for parents to do with their children at home.
Under Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, only “permitted workers” are able to access childcare and kinder if there is nobody else in their household who is able to supervise their child.
This may be for a range of reasons including the other parent could be a full-time student and must attend onsite, has a disability, or be working from home such that they cannot supervise the child, or there may be no other adults in the household.
Early childhood care and education services in regional and rural Victoria can continue to operate as normal under Stage 3 restrictions, with appropriate safety measures in place.
Increased funding for sessional kinder services across regional and rural Victoria means parents across can send their children to kindergarten for free during Term 3.Any kindergarten service directed to close due to a conformed COVID-19 case will also be provided funding to undertake an infectious clean before re-opening.
This is in addition to cleaning grants worth between $900 and $1500 that have been offered to all services delivering a funded kinder program.
