The Enrolment Process

Things to be aware of before placing your child on the waitlist:
    • Denzil Don Kindergarten is not a part of Merri-bek central enrolments.
    • The kindergarten isn’t zoned however, we have a Priority of Access criteria; (1) children who meet the government Priority of Access criteria, (2) children accessing a second year of 4-year-old kinder and children currently attending our 3-year-old program (applies to the 4-year-old waitlist only), (3) children with a sibling that attended Denzil Don Kindergarten, (4) children residing in Merri-bek ordered by proximity to the kinder, and (5) children from other Council’s, ordered by proximity to the kindergarten. 
    • Your child’s position on the waitlist is not static and will change if a child meeting a higher priority of access registers. 
    • Registering your child on the waitlist does not guarantee an offer of a place. Please refer to our Enrolment Policy for further information.
    • We follow the school terms and therefore do not operate during term breaks.
    • At the beginning of the year, we have a short Orientation period incorporating a Family-Teacher meeting and one shorter session with half the class. Orientation means fulltime hours (including AKC) start on week 3 of term 1. Please also be aware that the first two days of term are allocated as child-free days for set-up by the VECTEA (our workplace agreement) which also impacts our start to full-time hours.
    • Offers of a Place are sent at the end of July each year.
Placing your child on the waitlist:
  • 3-year-old kindergarten: 
    • Your child must turn three before 30 April in the year you wish them to attend.
    • For families with a child turning three in January, February, March or April, we encourage you to click here to read our advice on the best time to start your child on their education journey. We recommend waiting until the following year – when they are four – to register them for 3-year-old kinder.
    • Children cannot start in the program until the first session after their third birthday.
    • Please click here to place your child on the waitlist.
    • Once registered, you are welcome to call at anytime to check your child’s position on the waitlist. 
  • 4-year-old kindergarten: 
Booking a kindergarten tour:
  • To see all we offer, we encourage families with a child eligible to commence no earlier than the following year to book a tour of the centre.
  • Tours are offered on a Tuesday or Wednesday during term 2 and 3 only.
  • Please click here to book a centre tour.
The Offer process:
  • First round offers for 2026 will be sent via email on Friday 25 July. 
  • 3-year-old kindergarten: we will send an Offer of a Place to the first 60 children on our waitlist.
  • 4-year-old kindergarten: we will send an Offer of a Place to the first 88 children on our waitlist. 
  • Families are given five days to respond to an Offer of a Place, after which, we return to the waitlist and offer any remaining places to the next children on the waitlist. This process is repeated until we are full.
  • Should a place become available during the year, we always offer it to the next child on the waitlist, following the same process described above.

For any further questions about the enrolment process, please email enrolments@denzildonkinder.org.au or call the office on 9380 8420.

Fees 

At Denzil Don Kindergarten we offer three free 3-year-old programs ranging from 12-hours to 15-hours AND four free 4-year-old programs of 15-hours. 

Free kindergarten helps all Victorian children access two years of a high-quality kinder program before they start school. Free kinder is for everyone; you do not need to be an Australian citizen to be eligible to receive free kinder.

We do offer After Kinder Care (AKC) for families requiring additional hours outside of the free program. AKC is not part of free kinder and therefore incurs a fee. You can read more about AKC here.

A fee of $25 applies to register your child on the waitlist. The fee is non-refundable.