Funding is available to Community Preschools for minor environmental modifications/specialised equipment or furniture to enable children with disability and additional needs to participate in the educational program on the same basis as their peers.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Up to $20,000
- Application opened: 7 December 2024
- Application closed: 7 March 2025, 12:00 pm
Program objective
Inclusive Environments (IE) (formerly Minor Capital Works) is a component of Disability and Inclusion Program for NSW Community Preschools. The program aims to:
- increase the capacity of the early childhood education sector to include children with disability and additional needs on the same basis as their peers
- support equitable education outcomes for children with disability and additional needs during their attendance at preschool and as they transition to school
- align with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in NSW (the NDIS provides functional support, and this program provides educational support)
- target funding to children who have high learning support needs.
This program is funded and administered by Department of Education.
Eligibility
Service eligibility criteria
This funding is available only for Community Preschools (including mobile preschools) who are receiving funding under the NSW Start Strong for Community Preschools Funding Program or the Mobile Preschools Funding Program.
In addition, to be eligible for the service-based inclusion readiness funding, the Community Preschool must not have previously received High Learning Support Needs (HLSN) or IE funding and it must not have any children with disability recorded as attending the service in the 2024 Annual Preschool Census or, where applicable, an ad hoc data submission in 2024.
Child Eligibility Criteria
For child-based IE funding, the child/children need to have constant and ongoing support needs and require significant adjustments to enable them to engage with the educational program on the same basis as their peers, or a temporary illness or injury that requires short term adjustment to enable participation in the educational program on the same basis as their peers, and may require access to specialised equipment.
Applications are specific to individual or multiple children. An application can include inclusive environment requirements for multiple children, where the environment adjustment/equipment/furniture relates to more than one child.
It is no longer a requirement for the child/children to have an application approved for HLSN funding. This change recognises that some preschools can include children with constant and ongoing support needs with environmental adjustments and may not need an additional educator.
2025 IE Quarter 2 Payment Recipients
In May 2025, $84,8081 was distributed to 11 Community Preschool service providers (service providers)2 in 9 Local Health Districts3.
Service providers in the following LHDs received funding during May 2025: Hunter New England, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Mid North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Northern NSW, South Eastern Sydney, Southern NSW, Western NSW and Western Sydney.
The names of grant recipients have been removed for privacy purposes. More information about privacy
Notes:
- The total funds distributed in May 2025 is the total of all grants made in the Quarter 1 payment round, for eligible applications submitted by Community Preschools.
- Payments are made to service providers who distribute funds to Community Preschool services under their control.
- Locations of grant recipients are based on the locations of service providers according to NSW Local Health Districts or interstate regions (Out of NSW).
Agency funding this grant:
Department of Education
Funding was approved under delegation by:
- Director, Equity and Inclusion, Quality Participation and Connections, Early Childhood Outcomes
Program term: Funding must be expended in the year it was allocated for.
What your application needs to include
Child-based applications for funding to support the child/children currently attending the service must include:
- a description of the child/children’s educational needs and any disability
- a description of the essential minor environmental modifications, specialised equipment/furniture that are required to enable the child/ children to access, and participate in, the educational program
- if applying for specialised equipment/furniture, supporting evidence from specialised professionals recommending the specialised equipment/furniture
- a description of how the minor environmental modifications, specialised equipment/furniture are linked to/will deliver outcomes specified in the child/children’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP)
- an itemised quote/s clearly indicating the breakdown of costs excluding GST. Where GST is not clearly indicated, the department will assume that GST is included in the cost and will subtract this amount from the total amount
- if applying for specialised equipment or furniture:
- photocopies or sample pictures from catalogues to support your application
- a declaration confirming sufficient space for equipment/furniture to be installed and used safely.
Service-based applications for funding to enable a Community Preschool to improve their capacity to include children with disability or additional needs in the future must include:
- a description of specialised equipment/furniture or minor environmental modifications that would enable a child/children with disability or additional needs to access, and participate in, the educational program
- an itemised quote/s clearly indicating the breakdown of costs excluding GST. Where GST is not clearly indicated, the department will assume that GST is included in the cost and will subtract this amount from the total amount
- photocopies or sample pictures from catalogues to support your application
- a declaration confirming sufficient space for equipment/furniture to be installed and used safely.
Where applications are submitted that exceed the available grant amount, applicants are required to confirm that they can fund the difference.
If circumstances change, and a preschool cannot fund the difference, they must notify the department. In such circumstances, the grant must be returned to the department in full, unless expenditure is otherwise agreed by both parties and approved by the department. These decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: Department of Education (the Department).
The Department will individually assess all applications. Where required, the Department may seek further information from preschools about their application.
Providers will be notified of assessment outcomes for each application, and their funding allocation via email. Providers will be informed that funding notifications have been sent to providers via the 'Early Childhood Education Weekly Update' email.
Applications are assessed for eligibility according to the IE funding guidelines. When an application has been assessed as ineligible, the individual spreadsheet provided to each provider at the time of notification will indicate the relevant section of the guidelines for reference as the reason for ineligibility.
Support and contact
For questions, feedback or complaints about the Disability Inclusion Program, please contact the Department by:
- calling 1800 619 113
- emailing ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.