Welcome to kinder: Marliya Khakh, 4, Madden Mcabe, 5, Aria Bailey, 4, and Uday Singh, 4 are all in their second year of kinder at Isabel Pearce Kindergarten.
More families can now access more pre-kinder programs — and all the benefits they bring to children’s development — thanks to more government funding.
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STORY: GEORGIA ROSSITER. PHOTOGRAPHY: ??????
Isabel Pearce Kindergarten has offered a three-year-old kindergarten program for close to two decades.
Now that it is funded by the Victorian Government, service provider Linda Laws is excited for more families to access the benefits.
“Early childhood is such an important time — if they can be here for two years, then we can really support their development,” she said.
“It just sets them up for a great start in life.”
The government first began funding three-year-old kinder, also known as pre-kinder, programs in 2019, and moved to ensure all children had a fully-funded 15 hours from 2022 and beyond.
It’s an Australian first, with every Victorian child now able to begin kindergarten one year earlier.
Since being rolled-out, Linda said enrolments in the twice-weekly program had skyrocketed.
“We’ve got higher numbers across the service this year, we’re basically at capacity.”
Mother-of-three Caitlin Barton sent her eldest son Fletcher to pre-kinder in 2020, before the funding became available.
She said it was well worth it for now six-year-old Fletcher.
“It was mostly just the social side of things, to give him that opportunity to be socialising with kids his own age,” Caitlin said.
“He’s gone off to school so happy and ready, which has been great.”
When she turned three, Fletcher’s younger sister Elsie was enrolled in the program, and Caitlin said two-year-old Molly would also attend two years of kinder before school.
“Just getting to set up that routine, getting to play with other kids, and to know about doing all those daily things.”
Completing two years at kinder before starting ‘big school’ has a lot of benefits.
Not only does it help children adjust to a routine, it means teachers can help with separation anxiety, and help to identify any additional support the child may need.
“The child might need some assistance in speech or occupational therapy or fine motor development,” Linda said.
“Then they can transition really well into kinder, and the big benefit is they transition really well to school.”
Isabel Pearce Kindergarten currently has two full classes of pre-kinder, along with the regular four-year-old program.
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