If you have a three or four year old, you’ve probably heard the words Pre-Prep and Free Kinder and wondered what they mean for your family. The short version: Pre-Prep and 4 year old kinder are the same program, and over time it is growing from 15 hours a week to up to 30. Here’s a calm, plain-English guide to where things stand in late 2026.
What is Pre-Prep?
Pre-Prep is the Victorian Government’s new name for 4 year old kinder, the funded program in the year before your child starts Prep. Right now, every child in Victoria can attend a funded kinder program for 15 hours a week in that year.
Under the Pre-Prep reform, those weekly hours are gradually increasing to up to 30. The program is still led by a qualified early childhood teacher, and it can be delivered in a standalone kindergarten or inside long day care, like ours.
How the Pre-Prep and 4 year old kinder rollout works
The extra hours are not arriving everywhere at once. The government is rolling them out by local government area (your council area), and the number of hours depends on where you live.
- Since 2025: families in some regional council areas have been able to access more than 15 hours.
- Each year: more council areas are added to the rollout.
- Since 2026: extra hours are available across Victoria for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds, and children who have had contact with Child Protection.
- By 2036: the official schedule shows children across Victoria able to access up to 30 hours a week.
Many metropolitan Melbourne areas are scheduled to receive extra hours later in the rollout. Because the details vary by area and can be updated, the best place to check your own situation is the Pre-Prep page and roll-out schedule on vic.gov.au, which also has a handy calculator.
What Free Kinder means for you
Free Kinder is the government funding that makes the kinder program free or lower cost for families. It is open to everyone. You don’t need a Health Care Card or Child Care Subsidy eligibility to receive it.
A few things are worth knowing:
- Free Kinder applies to both 3 year old and 4 year old kinder programs.
- You can only receive it at one service at a time, so let your services know where you would like it to apply.
- In long day care, Free Kinder is applied as an offset to your out-of-pocket fees after any Child Care Subsidy, and it appears on your statement.
- The funded program is the time a qualified early childhood teacher is delivering the kinder program.
If you have questions about how this works for your child, our team is happy to talk it through. You can also read our fees and Child Care Subsidy page.
What stays the same for your child
Whatever the hours, the heart of the kinder year doesn’t change. It’s a year of play-based learning, growing friendships, building independence and getting ready for school. Children practise taking turns, managing big feelings, following routines and asking lots of questions.
More hours over time simply means more opportunity for that learning to happen. For now, the most useful thing you can do is focus on your child’s wellbeing, talk positively about kinder and school, and check the official site when you’re planning enrolment.
Funded kinder at Nest
At Nest, we deliver government-funded 3 and 4 year old kinder inside long day care, all 52 weeks of the year. Our Kindergarten room is led by bachelor-qualified early childhood teachers, and our program follows the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Families who need longer days can combine the kinder program with care from 6:30am to 6:30pm.
If you’re a Keysborough family wondering how Pre-Prep and Free Kinder apply to you, we’d love to help. Learn more about our Kindergarten room, or get in touch to book a tour and chat with our team on 03 9969 7057.
