How child care allocations are made

LIttle girl choosing a book

Offers are made when a vacancy matches family's registration. Most offers are made annually between October and early December of each year to start in January.

All early childhood education and care services are required to comply with government priority of access guidelines:

These are:

  1. Priority 1: a child at risk of serious abuse or neglect
  2. Priority 2: a child of a single parent who satisfies, or of parents who both satisfy the work, training, study test
  3. Priority 3: any other child

Below is addition information about priority criteria:

  • Siblings of current families have priority.
  • Families who live in Darebin are given priority.
  • Criteria scores are calculated based on information recorded on the registration form

Once your registration has been processed

The registration system aligns your registration onto a centralised list taking into account the following factors:

  • your child's age
  • the date we received your registration
  • your preference of chosen services

Darebin’s registration team can let you know the current waiting list size, however it is not possible to tell families their exact position on the waiting list as the list is often changes because:

  • family's priority of access
  • room configurations at services offer different age groups and room sizes
  • individual service vacancies
  • availability of preferred days

Darebin Central Enrolment System: children's wait list

This wait list was last updated 24 July 2024

Services 0 – 1 years 1 – 2 years 2 – 3 years 3 – 4 years 4 – 5 years
Northern section of Darebin
  • Merrilands Uniting Early Learning
  • Darebin Child Care & Kindergarten - Reservoir
  • Oakhill Children’s Centre
 49 44 37 35 14
Middle section of Darebin
  • Nara Community Early Learning Centre
  • Darebin Child Care & Kindergarten - Preston
 62 66 66 43 13
Southern section of Darebin
  • Annie Dennis Children’s Centre
  • Merri Community Child Care Centre
  • Raleigh St Community Children’s Centre
 200 268 276 132 63
Total 311 378 379 210 90

When will my child be offered a place?

Due to a range of factors, it is difficult to predict the exact length of time before an offer is made.

The majority of offers for childcare are made annually between October and early-December in preparation for care commencing the following January. Vacancies at services occasionally occur throughout the year, however an offer is only made when a vacancy matches your requirements as outlined on your registration .

Families should visit their preferred child care services before submitting applications. Most child care services would prefer visits before October each year.

The number of vacancies at each service and within each room determines how many places can be offered.

More information

If you would like to speak to someone about the allocation process, please contact us:

Darebin Registration Team
Phone: 03 8470 8825
Email: registration.kindergartenchildcare@darebin.vic.gov.au

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