Enrolling at Birrahlee

To be offered a place at Birrahlee, your child’s name must be registered on our waitlist.

All our positions are filled on a calendar year basis, commencing Term 1 each year.

Offers of Preschool places are made commencing August in the year preceding entry and continue until all places are filled.

During our preschool year, if places become available, we return to the waitlist and continue offering places.

Class options

Children are placed into a class for the year, where they develop a sense of belonging with children attending on the same days each week. Please note that these days are fixed and not interchangeable.

Birrahlee offer either 2 or 3 day classes as per the following structure:

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You can choose your preference of classes when you apply for our waitlist. 

Priority of Access

Start Strong for Community Preschools program guidelines requires preschool providers to give equal priority of access to:

  • children who are at least 4 years old on or before the 31 July in that preschool year and not enrolled or registered at a school;
  • children who are at least 3 years old on or before 31 January in that preschool year and from low income and/or Aboriginal families (non-equity 3 year olds);
  • children with English language needs;
  • children with disability and additional needs; and
  • children who are at risk of significant harm (from a child protection perspective).

There is no order of priority assigned to the list of points above. Priority must be given to the groups outlined above before any other groups, including non-equity 3 year olds.

Non-equity 3 year old children
There are limited positions for children who are 3 years of age and they must be 3 as of 31 January of the year attending. We strongly suggest that if you are placing a 3 year old child on our waitlist, that you also waitlist them for the following year when they are 4, as our Priority of Access children often fill our places.

The guidelines are intended to assist services with making enrolment decisions, in a way that seeks to allocate places to those in the greatest need. However, the particular community needs of the preschool will also be relevant.

The department will compare data collected through Preschool Census to the service’s reported enrolment in previous years Preschool Census to review priority of access. The department periodically conducts audits of preschool services and may request a funding compliance audit in these or other circumstances.

Enrolment queries
For all waitlist and enrolment queries please email: enrolments@birrahlee.com

Waitlist application
If you wish to join our waitlist please click here.