Fees

Engadine Preschool is funded by the State Government. We receive a one-off grant per annum and must budget accordingly. We are not a federally funded Service and have no affiliation with Centrelink.

In accordance with our funding agreement, the fees for 2024 have been set as follows:

Fees for 2024

(January – June)

Finally, we have received the funding guidelines and I have completed the Department of Education webinar about Start Strong Funding and Fee Relief Funding.

Please note that the new funding guidelines will start in January 2024.

Most notable are these changes:

1. There is no more “free preschool” or free COVID funding. This has been replaced by the Affordability Funding also known as Fee Relief Funding.
2. Community preschools will be eligible for both Program Funding AND Fee Relief Funding through Start Strong. Please note you can only access Fee Relief funding from one participating Community Preschool or LDC service at any given time. It is your choice which service you would like to receive fee relief from. Fee relief will be passed onto you by your service as a reduction to your fees. This will be clearly seen on your fee invoice.
3. Children that are deemed to be eligible for Equity fees receive an extra equity loading on top of the Program and Fee Relief Funding.
4. All Parents / legal guardians will need to complete a declaration from the Department of Education stating which service they want to allocate their fee relief to. There will be audits and compliance checks to ensure that children only claim the fee relief funding from one service and services pass on the funding to families according to the guidelines.
5. Funding is only available for two days attendance per week or 600hrs per year for each child.
6. If you fail to complete the form or nominate Engadine Preschool as the nominated recipient of the Fee Relief funding component you will be required to pay the full fee per day of attendance.

Equity Children (health care card holder, disability, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) 3 and 4 year olds  – 2 & 3 day enrolments – with completed fee relief funding form in favour of EPK	$15.00/day
4 year old 2 days with completed fee relief funding form in favour of EPK	$25.00/day
4 year olds 3rd day OR no fee relief funding – full fee	$77.75/day
3 year olds 2 day with completed fee relief funding form in favour of EPK	$40.00/day
3 year olds 3rd day OR no fee relief funding – full fee	$92.75/day
Therefore:
4 year olds fee for three days with fee relief	averages out at $42.58 /day
3 year olds for three days with fee relief	averages out at $57.58 /day
Before And After Care – AM Session 8.00-8.30am	$4.00
Before And After Care – PM Session 4.00-5.00pm	$8.00

If children are attending more than one service, as some children do, parents will need to carefully look at fee structures for both services and decide which service they wish to allocate their fee relief to. The Department of Education has forms available for parents to explain the guidelines as well as to sign and allocate their funding choice.

Please speak to Eve should you have any questions

The equity rate is available for eligible families. This rate will apply to both low income Health Care Card holding families (to qualify for this you must complete an application provided by the Service regarding your families income) and/or those of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage (as indicated on your enrolment form) and/or children with a diagnosed disability.

Before and after school care is currently available between the hours of 8am to 8.30am and 4pm to 5pm daily. There is a fee per session.

All fees are payable via Direct Debit from your nominated bank account or credit card. Once your fees are established, you will receive an invoice via the OWNA app twice per term. Your nominated account will be direct debited on week later.

If a parent falls behind in payment of fees, the Early Childhood Director is to remind the parent. If payment is still not received, the child may be excluded from attending. If a family is unable to pay their fees due to financial difficulties, the Early Childhood Director is always available to discuss these problems.

Holidays and sick days taken in term time are to be paid in full. Public holidays are not charged.