A new era of early childhood education in Queensland began has begun with the introduction of free kindy for Queensland families.
Nellie is one of the 64,000 young Queenslanders who will benefit from this historic reform with access to a free, high-quality kindergarten program.
Kindy is a part-time educational program of 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year and is free—valuable preparation in the year before school.
The Queensland Government's free kindy initiative is a major milestone to support families on their child's education journey and alleviate the cost of living.
For Nellie's parents, Sam and Steph, free kindy ticks all the boxes.
'We enrolled her in kindy because the educational and social skills she'll learn are invaluable and will give her the best start for Prep,' said Nellie's father Sam.
'Free kindy has come at the perfect time for us. It's one less thing for us to stress about and it gave us more freedom to choose a kindy that suited our daughter without being limited by costs.'
Her mum, Steph, backs up the view.
'We're thrilled that kindy will be free for 15 hours a week. The teachers pack so much play and learning into those 15 hours, it's wild that we don't have to pay for it,' she said.
Kindergarten is delivered in different ways at different services. For some services, 15 hours of free kindy might be delivered over 2 or 3 days, with additional wrap-around care paid for separately. In these cases, additional care may be covered in part by the Australian Government Child Care Subsidy.
For Nellie, kindy is about the excitement of starting her educational journey.
'I love my teachers! I'm excited to play with my friends and my teachers,' Nellie said enthusiastically.
Steph and Sam encourage Queensland families to embrace this opportunity by enrolling their children in kindy as a positive step towards shaping a brighter future for all children.
If families aren't sure where to look, they can jump onto the
free kindy finder online tool, and easily locate a free Queensland Government approved kindergarten program in their area.
To be eligible for free kindy, children need to be at least 4-years-old by June 30 in the year before they start Prep.
For more information and resources to share with families thinking about enrolling in kindergarten, visit the free kindy page.