Preschool enrolment
Enrol your child in one of SA’s high quality government preschools.
In South Australia, 'preschool' and 'kindergarten' are the same. Children can attend preschool the year before they start school.
Aboriginal children can access 15 hours of preschool a week from 3 years of age.
Children in care or who have been in care also can access 15 hours of preschool a week from 3 years of age.
Going to preschool has a big impact on your child’s learning and development. Through play-based learning, your child is building important social, emotional and thinking skills to help them thrive.
To start the enrolment process you must complete a preschool registration of interest form.
Start enrolment in 3 easy steps
1. Confirm your child is ready to start
It’s now time to enrol your child to start preschool if they turn 4:
- before 1 May, they can start preschool in term 1
- between 1 May and 31 October, they can start preschool in term 3 (mid-year intake)
- after 31 October, they can start preschool in the next year.
Find out when your children can start preschool with our age calculator.
2. Find a preschool
Use our tool to find a preschool in your local catchment area.
3. Complete a preschool registration of interest form
Fill in the form and give it to your local preschool. Wait to receive an enrolment offer via email or letter from the preschool.
Download the form (PDF 173 KB) More about registering Age calculator
Why choose a government preschool?
We have some of the highest quality education in the nation with 96% of our government preschools meeting or exceeding the National Quality Standard.
Government preschool programs are much more than supervised activity. They offer quality learning, delivered by a qualified early childhood educator to give children a great start in life.
There are almost 400 government preschools in South Australia.
Supporting your child's diverse needs
As well as helping all young children thrive and learn, government preschools provide specialised support for children, including:
- bilingual support for children who speak minimal English
- health and disability support
- programs for children with hearing, speech or language impairment and children with developmental delay or disability.
Video transcript
It’s helped him a lot. When I first bought him here, he had problems with his speech. He was very shy, very withdrawn, didn’t like to interact with other people.
Bringing him to kindy has actually helped him build connections with the workers, with other children. His speech is a lot better and he’s a lot more confident. Getting him around kids his own age has actually brought him out of his shell.
