# Preschool and Kindergarten age Victoria



## ricardo.a.pinto (Jan 27, 2012)

Hi
Moving to Melbourne and want to find out at what age children's start pre-school and kindergarten in Melbourne.
Also, is preschool and kindergarten considered part of the public schooling system? This is, are there free public preschools and kindergarten?


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2012)

You pay for pre school, it's not like Europe where we get it free! Children start school at 5/6 depending on their birthday. Anything before that you find and pay for yourself.


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## ricardo.a.pinto (Jan 27, 2012)

Thank you. Any idea of the average fees of kindergarten in Melbourne?


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## anj1976 (Apr 24, 2008)

average for kindergarten is 85, can go upto 120/day depending on what you choose (area/kindergarten).

Centrelink pays 30% if the mother is not working, if the mother is working they pay almost 45-50% of that. To show mother is working or looking for work, you have to register with centrelink for theri jobsearch facility.


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## tanhum (Jul 1, 2010)

anj1976 said:


> average for kindergarten is 85, can go upto 120/day depending on what you choose (area/kindergarten).
> 
> Centrelink pays 30% if the mother is not working, if the mother is working they pay almost 45-50% of that. To show mother is working or looking for work, you have to register with centrelink for theri jobsearch facility.


Anj, I heard that the fee is different for 3 year olds and 4 year olds in kindergarten. 4 years get some rebate 3 years dont.. can you plz throw some light on this if you have idea abt thia


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## anj1976 (Apr 24, 2008)

yes the fee structure is different because the number of infants a carer can have under her is 4 wehreas that of toddler is different. Not sure though.


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## ricardo.a.pinto (Jan 27, 2012)

I read that the Victoria government subsidizes kindergarten for 4 year old child's. The subsidy is paid directly to the school and hence it is cheaper


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2012)

Yes, that's childcare rebates if you qualify for it. It depends on your visa and is means tested.


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## tanhum (Jul 1, 2010)

i have two children who are aged 4(twins). We are planning to move to melbourne in the month of June. If I lookout for work then I will have to put them in kindergarten. So that would approximately cost us 2k to 2.5k per month per child. Am i correct here? If yes i suppose i would rather stay at home till they start schooling


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## ricardo.a.pinto (Jan 27, 2012)

If you are on a temporary visa, yes! That is exactly the same problem we are faced with. We are also moving to Melbourne in April and we have 2 kids. If my wife goes back to work most or all her salary will be channeled to the kindergarten.
The best is to obtain a permanent visa because with the government subsidy the costs will be sliced to half!


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2012)

The word is CAN be halved. It depends on your joint income how much you get. Some people get more than half paid, some get nothing. If you are both professionals earning a decent wage you might not get much.

There is a calculator on the centerlink website that shows how much you might get.

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/online_estimators.htm


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## tanhum (Jul 1, 2010)

We would be moving there as Permanent residents so we will get the subsidy atleast till we get jobs so thats a relief  

Thanks shel for the estimator, it gives me a pretty realistic idea of what i can expect.


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## anj1976 (Apr 24, 2008)

if you are looking for work and are not registerd with centrelink you wont get anything, i think your eligibility will b 24 hours but if you do register with centrelink as someone looking for work it shoots up to 50 hours per week, make sure you call centrelink adn tell them you are looking for work and need their assistance then tell them about centrelink rebate for childcare.

As for how much you pay, if you do not have eligibility for centrelink then also you pay around 1700 if you go to 85/day cc. for two kids they usually give you a better rate, instead of 85 you might get 70-75, depending on what the cc policies are.


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