The Start Strong for Community Preschools program provides funding to deliver affordable quality preschool education for 3 to 5-year-old children enrolled in eligible community and mobile preschools in NSW.
Key information
- Status: Not open for application
- Grant amount: Variable from a total pool of up to approximately $510 million
Program objective
Start Strong for Community Preschools aims to:
- improve the affordability of preschool education
- support quality uplift in preschool education
- drive improved outcomes for children
- incentivise increased enrolment and attendance in quality preschool programs in the years before school.
The program's funding (Program Payment) supports the operating costs of eligible early childhood education services and enrolment of at least 600 hours per year or 15 hours per week. Evidence shows that this level of participation in a quality early childhood education program in the two years before school is associated with better outcomes for children.
The program includes fee relief funding (Fee Relief Payment) which provides community and mobile preschools with sustainable long-term funding to deliver at least 600 hours of low, or no cost preschool to eligible children.
For more information, refer to the 2024 Start Strong for Community Preschools program guidelines.
This program is funded and administered by Department of Education.
Grant recipients
Recipients for this program were selected to meet the program objectives.
Eligible recipients were invited to participate and were required to meet the objectives.
Support and contact
For questions, feedback or complaints about Start Strong, please contact the department by:
- phone: 1800 619 113
- email: ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.
An officer within Early Childhood Outcomes will consider and respond to your enquiry.