SUSANNE

Welcome everyone, my name is Susanne Stuart-Watt and I am the manager of the Disability and Inclusion Program.

In this video, I will be providing you with an overview of the 2025 Disability and Inclusion program's High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding program guidelines.

Before we commence, I would like to acknowledge that I am recording this video from the lands of the Dharawal people in Southern Sydney.

I would also like to acknowledge the ongoing custodians of the various lands on which you all work today and any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may be watching this video.

I would like to pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and I would like to reiterate my personal commitment and the department's commitment to ensure that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child in NSW achieves their potential through education.

I'd like to begin with a summary of the Disability and Inclusion program and then move to the key updates to the 2025 program guidelines for the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs.

As a reminder, the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs are only available and relevant to community and mobile preschools in New South Wales.

If you work in another type of early education and care service, such as long day care, family day care or outside school hours care, your service may be eligible for the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. I would encourage you to visit the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program website for further information.

For those of you that are joining us for the first time, I'm going to provide a very brief overview of the Disability and Inclusion Program.

The Disability and Inclusion Program provides funding and support for community preschools to enable children with disability and additional needs to participate in the learning program on the same basis as their peers.

The Disability and Inclusion Program has 4 complementary streams of inclusion funding and support, the first being High Learning Support Needs funding, the second Inclusive Environments funding, the third is a Sector Capacity Building program and the final and fourth funding stream is Inclusive Scholarships.

If you are new to the Disability and Inclusion Program, I would encourage you to log on to the NSW Department of Education's website where you will find in depth and specific information on the Disability and Inclusion Program.

Moving right along to the key updates to the High Learning Support Needs guidelines for 2025. There are 4 key updates. The first being in relation to evidence requirements, where we have updated the guidelines to provide greater clarity about the evidence requirements for written diagnosis High Learning Support Needs applications, NDIS plan High Learning Support Needs applications and observation High Learning Support Needs applications.

Our second key update is in relation to spending rules and the funding rate. The guidelines have an updated funding rate of $26.64 excluding GST per hour. And the guidelines now also include greater clarity, noting that applications must only be made for hours of support that can be used according to the spending rules.

The third key update for the High Learning Support Needs funding guidelines for 2025 is in relation to opt-in provisional prepayment. We have provided greater clarity in Section 4.3 of the guidelines confirming that providers need to submit individual applications if they have opted in for provisional prepayment.

And our 4th and final key update is in relation to simplified applications, where we have provided in the guidelines greater clarity about where simplified applications can be found within ECCMS.

Please be aware that there is a second part to this video, which will actually look at each key update in greater detail.

Moving right along to the overview of the key updates to our Inclusive Environments funding.

There are only 2 key updates for Inclusive Environments for 2025. The first being in relation to the terminology used within the guidelines. The language has been updated throughout the Inclusive Environment guidelines where we have removed minor environmental modifications and minor construction references and instead, we have moved to the terminology ‘environmental modifications’.

The second key update in the Inclusive Environment guidelines for 2025 is in relation to the eligibility criteria for inclusion readiness funding.

We have provided greater clarity in Section 3 of the guidelines to confirm the eligibility criteria for inclusion readiness.

And again, I would like to draw your attention to Part 2 of these videos, which will actually look at inclusive environment funding guidelines for 2025 in greater detail.

I'd like to thank you all for the few minutes that we've been able to spend together and allowing me to explain the Disability and Inclusion Program guideline updates for 2025. Please refer to the other videos that are recorded on this page for more detailed information about the High Learning support Needs and Inclusive Environment funding programs for 2025. If you have any questions, please contact the department using the phone number or the email on your screen (1800 619 113 or ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au).

Please remember that you can also contact your Sector Capacity Building provider for assistance in relation to the implementation of any inclusive education practices or to enhance your service’s ongoing inclusion readiness. If you are unsure of who your Sector Capacity Building provider is, please call us or email us.

You can also log into the department website and you will find a list of the Sector Capacity Building providers across NSW.

Once again, thank you very much.

SUSANNE

Hello again everyone. My name is Susanne Stuart-Watt and I'm the manager of the Disability and Inclusion Program. This is part 2 of the overview of the 2025 Disability and Inclusion Program guideline updates.

In this video, I will be providing specific information in relation to the 2025 High Learning Support Needs Funding program.

The High Learning Support Needs Funding program is 1 of the 4 components of the Disability and Inclusion Program. High Learning Support Needs Funding is available to develop and deliver the child's individual learning plan.

Funding is available to increase the adult to child ratio to support the child's participation in the educational program and or to complete other activities directly related to the development, delivery and review of the child's individual learning plan.

Indexation has been applied to the program year, and the new High Learning Support Needs funding rate for 2025 is $26.64 excluding GST per hour for up to 600 hours per year, up to the total of $15,984 excluding GST per child per year.

High Learning Support Needs funding is available to support the inclusion of children with disability or additional needs, in addition to operational funding available through the Start Strong for Community Preschools and the Mobile Preschools Funding programs.

Please see the 2025 High Learning Support Needs Funding guidelines for more information.

The evidence requirements for the 2025 High Learning Support Needs Funding applications are unchanged. However, evidence requirements for written diagnosis applications, NDIS plan applications and observations applications have been updated for clarification.

This includes electronic reports or records that confirm diagnosis of disability with electronic signatures where a letterhead may not be available may be accepted. The child's full NDIS plan does not need to be provided, but the uploaded NDIS plan must include the child's full name and the plan approval date and or start date. Additionally, optional observation templates have been made available in the guidelines.

The questions for the 2025 High Learning Support Needs Funding applications also remain unchanged. New applications and applications for children not approved as eligible for annual funding in 2024 will need to include information in response to questions 1-3.

Simplified applications for returning children whose application was eligible in 2024 will need to include information in response to question 4 only.

To be eligible for High Learning Support Needs funding for 2025, current information needs to be provided to verify that the child continues to require constant and ongoing support and significant adjustments to enable participation in the preschool program on the same basis as their peers. This information cannot be copied and pasted from the child's 2024 application.

Information about how to apply, including information about eligible supporting documentation, can be found at Section 5 of the 2025 High Learning Support Needs Funding Guidelines.

In 2024, we trialled opt-in prepayment of Quarter 1 funding. We have had positive feedback about this approach and will continue to provide opt-in prepayment in 2025. Eligible providers may opt in for the provisional prepayment of Quarter 1 2025 High Learning Support Needs funding.

Eligible providers can opt in for a provisional prepayment for children eligible for annual High Learning Support Needs funding in Quarter 4 2024 and who are identified as returning to the service in 2025. Providers will still need to submit an individual application for 2025.

High Learning Support Needs funding for each child by the Quarter 1 application cut-off date which is Friday 6 December 2024 or by the Quarter 2 application cut-off date which is Friday 7 March 2025.

The department will send an email to eligible providers to notify them of the opportunity to opt-in for a provisional prepayment. The opt in process is voluntary.

The provisional prepayment will be calculated based on the number of support hours to be requested for continuing children for Quarter 1 2025. The provisional prepayment will be made outside of the regular quarterly payment schedule. Subsequent payments and adjustments for these applications will return to the normal quarterly payment schedule. Please see Section 6 for application cut off and payment schedules.

Providers will be required to submit their opt in form by 15th November 2024 by emailing it to the ECE Access and Equity email inbox (ece.accessandequity@det.nsw.edu.au).

To receive the provisional prepayment, providers must first sign the 2025 Early Childhood Education Funding Agreement Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions are found in ECCMS. The department will email services in line with the usual process once Terms and Conditions have been released and are available in ECCMS.

Payments received in December will be offset against payments made in Quarter 1-3 of 2025. Any provisional prepayment funding not subsequently approved for eligible 2025 High Learning Support Needs funding applications will be required to be returned as part of the Quarter 3 adjustments or refunds.

For more information about the provisional prepayment, please refer to the 2025 High Learning Support Needs funding guidelines.

In 2024, we also trialled the provision of simplified applications for children who were funded in 2023 and returning to the service in 2024. We have had positive feedback about simplified applications, which included that it reduced administration time and we will continue to provide simplified applications for 2025.

Simplified applications will be available for children who were assessed as eligible for annual High Learning Support Needs funding in Quarters 1-4 in 2024 and who continue to have high learning support needs in 2025. Simplified applications available for applications approved for annual funding in 2024 will be found in ECCMS.

These applications will be in draft for each eligible child and have an AP25 application number. Simplified applications will be pre-populated with details from the child's 2024 application. The child's name and date of birth will be able to be edited if incorrectly entered previously and additional documentation can be uploaded if desired. Simplified applications will show information previously submitted for Questions 1-3 and this is unable to be edited.

Services are required to respond to Question 4 only to provide an update about the child's current functioning and the support and adjustments that will be required by the child for 2025.

The child's enrolment dates, weeks of attendance and hours of enrolment and hours of support will also be required to be entered for 2025. Simplified applications are unable to be retrieved if deleted by the service.

Applications should only be submitted for returning children with ongoing and constant high learning support needs. Simplified applications should reflect the child's current functioning in the community preschool and must state the current adjustments and supports required.

Applications consisting only of information copied from 2024 applications may be assessed as ineligible as up to date information about the child's high learning support needs is required for an application to be considered eligible for funding.

This slide shows you the application cut off dates for High Learning Support Needs funding for 2025. This table also provides information about notification and payment timing. For example, notification of eligibility of applications submitted for Quarter 1 will be sent to the service providers in February of 2025. All of these dates are included in Section 6 of the funding guidelines.

Thank you for watching. If you have any questions, please contact the department by calling 1800 619 113 or emailing us at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.

Please remember you may also like to contact your Sector Capacity Building provider for advice and assistance.

SUSANNE

Welcome back again everyone. My name is Susanne Stuart-Watt and I am the manager of the Disability and Inclusion Program. In this video, I will be providing an overview of the 2025 Inclusive Environments Funding Program.

Inclusive Environments, or IE for short, is 1 of the 4 components of the Disability and Inclusion program. There are 2 types of Inclusive Environment funding - the first being child-based funding, and the second being service based funding for eligible community preschools.

Child-based funding under the Inclusive Environments program is available for community preschools to support individual children with constant and ongoing support needs who are currently attending their service.

Child-based Inclusive Environments funding is available for environmental modifications or specialised equipment or furniture that will enable children with disability and additional needs to participate in the educational program on the same basis as their peers.

Services can apply for up to $5000 excluding GST for specialised equipment and furniture and up to $20,000 excluding GST for minor environmental modification.

A reminder that it is no longer a requirement for the child or children to have an application approved for High Learning Support Needs funding to enable you to apply for Inclusive Environments child-based funding.

This change recognises that some preschools can include children with constant and ongoing support needs with environmental adjustments.

In 2024, we also trialled service-based inclusion readiness funding which we will be continuing for the 2025 program.

Eligible community preschools can apply for funding to improve their capacity to include children with disability or additional needs in the future.

Up to $5000 excluding GST per community preschool per year is available for specialised equipment, furniture or environmental modifications.

To be eligible, the community preschool must not have previously received High Learning Support Needs or Inclusive Environments funding and must not have any children with disability recorded as attending in the service in the 2024 Annual Preschool Census or, where applicable, an ad hoc data submission in 2024.

The service-based inclusion readiness funding is an amount of up to $5000 excluding GST per community preschool per year.

Here are the application cut off dates for Inclusive Environments child based funding. This table also provides information about notification and payment timing.

For example, notification of eligibility of applications submitted for quarter one will be sent to the service providers in February of 2025.

This slide shows you the application cut off and payment date for service-based inclusion readiness funding.

All of these dates for both child-based and service-based Inclusive Environments funding are included in Section 6 of the Inclusive Environments funding guidelines.

Once again, thank you for joining me. If you have any questions, please contact the department by calling the number on your screen or using the email that's provided.

Again, please remember that you can always contact your Sector Capacity Building provider for advice and assistance regarding the implementation of inclusive education practices and to enhance your service's ongoing inclusion readiness.

If you are unsure of who your Sector Capacity Building provider is, please don't hesitate to contact us. Or you can log on to the department's website where there is a map of NSW which also has all the contact details for your Sector Capacity Building provider. Thank you again and I look forward to receiving your applications for 2025.