Three metropolitan government preschools will help shape the roll-out of three-year-old preschool across South Australia.
Ocean View College Children's Centre, Brentwood Drive Kindergarten and Riverbanks College Preschool will offer three-year-old preschool programs from 2026 which are designed to inform the roll-out of South Australia's new preschool model.
Children living in the local preschool catchment area, who meet the eligibility criteria, will get priority access to places available across the three government demonstration sites. Aboriginal children can continue to access their three-year-old entitlement, as can children in care.
The roll-out of three-year-old preschool in long day care services across the state will also start from 2026. Expressions of interest are open for long day care partnership opportunities until 28 February 2025.
All remaining government and sessional preschools will follow a geographic roll-out schedule, starting with regional and rural areas in 2026 and 2027, the greater Adelaide area in 2028, and metro Adelaide starting in 2029 and 2030.
The Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care, led by Julia Gillard, showed all children benefit from two years of quality, teacher-led preschool programs. These programs help children to thrive when they are young and set them up for a stronger start to school and beyond.
All South Australian children will continue to have a place in their local government preschool in the year before school.
The three metropolitan government preschool demonstration sites will be critical in shaping and informing the broader government and sessional preschool roll-out.
Quality, universal preschool programs will be offered in long day care, early learning centres, sessional and government preschools to every three-year-old across the state from 2032, no matter their location or setting.
This mixed-sector approach leverages the capacity and expertise across the whole early childhood sector, enabling many children to access three-year-old preschool programs as early as 2026. It also means that thousands of children will have access – a significant increase from when Victoria rolled it out.
The announcement of the demonstration sites represents the latest milestone in a bumper year for South Australia's early childhood reforms which includes the roll-out of a preschool OSHC program, a $96.6 million investment to attract and retain early childhood teachers, and new legislation into parliament to drive reform across the early childhood education and care sector to improve outcomes for young children.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
The government's roll-out of preschool for three-year-olds marks an exciting chapter in early childhood for this state and the largest reform to education in decades.
The Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care set a very clear pathway for us to improve educational outcomes for young people, and we need to expand the workforce in this critical sector.
We are committed to making South Australia a nation leader in early childhood education – this starts with the roll-out of quality three-year-old preschool across the state.
We've invested in this reform because we believe in the work being done to improve outcomes for young children. It's the right thing to do for our children and our state.
As put by Blair Boyer
We want as many children as possible to have access to three-year-old preschool as quickly as possible, while not compromising on quality, evidence and service to families.
The insights we gain from these metropolitan demonstration sites will be pivotal in shaping how government services deliver three-year-old preschool in South Australia.
Like many aspects of this reform, the more informed we can be, the greater our chance at success.
Our goal is to strengthen the connection between families and preschool programs, health and support services so fewer South Australian children are starting school developmentally vulnerable.
The Royal Commission told us quality early learning programs can have a significant and lasting impact on children from disadvantaged contexts above the gains observed for other children.
We are acting now to improve future outcomes for our most vulnerable children.
