Under the Early Childhood Education Grants Programs Terms and Conditions, preschools are required to complete two types of consent forms, one for each staff member and one for each child upon enrolment. It is good practice to seek a renewal of the consent form every year the child attends and a new form should be completed if any of the details in the original consent form require an update or adjustment.

This form consents to the use and disclosure of personal information that is used by the department for reporting and funding purposes.

As long as this form has been completed for each child, additional forms of parent/carer consent are not required for the Disability and Inclusion Program. Preschools are strongly encouraged to maintain ongoing dialogue with families regarding the implementation of systemic adjustments and applications for HLSN funding.

• Consent Form - Child (PDF 716.68KB)
• Consent Form - Personnel (PDF 683.72KB)

HLSN applications require:

• A description of how the child generally functions in the preschool across developmental domains.
• A description of the level of educator guidance and support required for the child to engage at the same level as their peers.
• A description of other systemic adjustments required to enable the child's access to, and participation in, the educational program on the same basis as their peers.
• A written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment OR preschool observations that indicate the frequency, intensity and duration of developmental concerns.
• Notification of the number of weeks the child is enrolled at the preschool, excluding the weeks the preschool is closed for school holidays.

Please note: Where available, the child’s NDIS reference number and/or NDIS plan can be provided as part of the HLSN application. However, this information is a reference only and is not a program eligibility requirement or a guarantee of funding.

There are two application types; applications supported by documentation confirming a diagnosis, and applications supported by preschool observations.

Applications supported by documentation

Where applications for children with high learning support needs are supported by documentation, it must be a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment from a relevant specialist. Relevant specialists are an audiologist, registered psychologist, paediatrician, psychiatrist, speech pathologist, occupational therapist, a professional qualified to administer psychometric assessments, or other relevant medical specialist.

Documentation requirements

• Documentation must be on letterhead and signed by the relevant specialist.
• Documentation should be from the relevant specialist rather than an alternative specialist referring to the original specialist’s diagnosis.
• Where a document refers to a speech and language delay/disorder only, a moderate to severe diagnosis must be demonstrated and made by a speech pathologist for funding to be considered.
• The assessment date on documentation related to speech and language delay or disorder, or behavioural and social emotional disability, must be less than 15 months prior to the application submission date in that program year.

Where applications include documentation that strongly indicates the presence of high learning support needs, but are not supported by a written diagnosis, a quarterly payment schedule may be considered. In these instances, written diagnosis applications will be converted to an observation application and an eligible progress update will be required to receive further quarterly payments.

Payments on a quarterly schedule are provided to facilitate support while preschools support families to obtain a formal diagnosis. To be considered for further payments, preschools will need to submit a progress update or documentation via the application review process.

Applications supported by preschool observations

The department understands that there may be circumstances where the confirmation of a diagnosis is not available for the child. In situations where available reports indicate ongoing investigation, an application for HLSN should be supported by preschool observations.

Preschools can submit their collected information on the child by providing observations documenting the developmental areas where the child displays difficulties. Dated observations of the child, recorded by educators at the preschool, must be uploaded to support the application.

These may include:

• running records
• time samples
• frequency tally
• scatter plots
• anecdotal observations
• Antecedents, Behaviour, Consequences (ABC) recordings
• language samples.

Sufficient information must be provided to demonstrate the frequency, intensity and duration of the concerns across the preschool routine over the course of a week.

The dated observations must be a description of what is observed, and not contain analysis or evaluation.

See Section 9.2 for more information on how to write preschool observations and/or preschools can contact their Sector Capacity Building provider for support.

Please note: Funding for applications supported by preschool observations is NOT ongoing. See Section 4.5 for more information.

If an application supported by preschool observations is assessed as eligible, up to 150 hours of funding for supports will be provided for one quarter. This application is then subject to an application review on a quarterly basis until a written diagnosis is provided. Evidence to support an application review must include:

• documentation confirming diagnosis or,
• a progress update demonstrating progress towards obtaining a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment for the child.

Where an application review confirms a diagnosis, funding payments will convert to an annual schedule. Where progress towards a diagnosis is provided each quarter, one additional quarterly payment will be made per eligible variation application.

Applications for temporary illness or injury that require short term adjustments to enable participation will be funded in the same manner as applications supported by preschool observations.

Variation applications document changes in the child’s circumstances as the year progresses.

Variations to eligible applications can be made on a per child basis in the Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS). To complete a variation application, preschools should select the pencil icon next to the child’s name in the list of child applications in ECCMS, select the reason for the variation and follow the prompts.

Preschools should select the variation type that best suits the child’s change in circumstances. Where a child’s circumstances have changed in a number of ways, several individual variations may need to be submitted.

Variations should be made as soon as possible where:

• The child’s learning support needs change, and the preschool need to request an increase in HLSN hours.
• The child’s learning support needs change, and the preschool need to request a decrease in HLSN hours (including reducing HLSN hours to zero to inform the department that the child no longer requires HLSN funding).
• The child leaves the preschool.
• The child has returned from an absence of more than five weeks.
• Documentation is obtained or a progress update is required to support an application review (see Section 4.5 for more information).
• School exemption documentation is obtained or a progress update is required – see Section 4.6

Variation applications may result in a change in a preschool’s funding allocation throughout the year. In such cases a funding adjustment will be applied to the preschool’s next payment.

HLSN funding for a child with an application supported by preschool observations is not ongoing, and is subject to an application review.

To be considered for funding in the next quarter, the preschool must submit an application review for the child before the next application cut-off date.

Types of application review

1. Written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment

When a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment is obtained, preschools should submit a variation application, select ‘Application review’ and then select ‘Upload a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment’. The application will then be re-assessed to ascertain eligibility for annual funding in accordance with the program’s backdating rules.

2. Progress update

Where a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment is not available, preschools should submit a variation application, select ‘Application review’ and then select ‘Provide a progress update’.

This is not an update on the child’s developmental progress, but an update demonstrating progress towards obtaining a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment for the child.

Where the application review is supported by a progress update, and is assessed as eligible, up to 150 hours of funding for supports will be provided for one quarter. To receive subsequent quarters of funding, further application reviews will need to be submitted by the preschool.

Where a progress update does not demonstrate progress towards obtaining a written diagnosis and/or developmental assessment, funding will not be allocated for the applicable quarter.

The Education Act 1990 mandates that all children must be in compulsory schooling by six years of age. Where an eligible child is turning six before 1 October and is still attending preschool, a Certificate of Exemption must be included with the child’s application to receive annual funding.

Preschools that are still in the process of obtaining a Certificate can notify the department by submitting a variation application. Preschools can submit the variation application – provide school exemption documentation – to report progress towards obtaining a Certificate, and/or to submit a Certificate once obtained. Variation applications that demonstrate progress towards obtaining a Certificate will receive one quarter of funding per eligible variation application per quarter until a Certificate is obtained.

For further information on the school exemption process, please contact the child's local school or the local educational services team. Your local educational services team can be contacted on 131 536.

Corrections to submitted applications can only be made when an application has been returned to draft by the department. Preschools wishing to make corrections or add information to their applications should contact the department.

Applications that have previously been assessed as ineligible cannot be edited and resubmitted in ECCMS. A new application should be submitted when new information becomes available.

The deadline for backdating is Thursday 30 June.

Funding for eligible applications supported by documentation submitted up to and including 30 June 2022 will be backdated to the child’s enrolment start date for 2022.

Funding for eligible applications supported by documentation submitted on or after 1 July 2022 will be backdated to 1 July 2022, or the child’s enrolment start date for 2022, whichever is the most recent date.

Preschools that submit applications supported by documentation on or after 1 July will be eligible to receive up to 300 hours of funding support. Preschools that submit applications prior to 1 July, where the enrolment start date is after 1 July, will also be subject to the same conditions.

Where a preschool believes that the child requires systemic adjustments supported by greater than 300 hours of funding for supports in the final six months of the year, exceptional circumstances can be indicated in the application. All exceptional circumstances funding requests will be considered by the department on a case-by-case basis. Exceptional circumstances requests will not be considered to reverse the impact of the backdating rule on funding allocations.

Funding adjustments for approved variations to increase or decrease hours submitted by 30 June 2022, will be backdated to the variation start date.

Funding adjustments for approved variations to increase hours submitted on or after 1 July 2022, will be backdated to 1 July 2022, or the variation start date, whichever is the most recent date.

Funding adjustments for approved variations where the child has left the preschool and to decrease hours will be calculated on a pro-rata basis, according to the variation start date (i.e. the date the child left the preschool or decreased hours).

A HLSN application can be considered for a priority payment where assessment determines that there is an urgent need to support and supervise the child due to:

• Significant safety concerns for the child and/or other children, and/or staff at the preschool,
• AND the application is submitted within the first four weeks of the Quarter 2, 3 or 4 application periods.

Examples of a safety concerns may include, but are not limited to:

• Injuries to self and/or other children/staff.
• Absconding from environments and/or the preschool premises.
• Aggressive actions such as hitting, kicking, biting, spitting, climbing on or throwing furniture.
• Staff require additional resources to manage aspects of the child’s condition to support full enrolment.

A priority payment is made outside of the regular quarterly payment schedule. Subsequent payments for these applications will return to the normal quarterly payment schedule.

Where exceptional circumstances exist, the department may also consider a priority payment for other eligible applications on a case-by-case basis.

Where a preschool has a large number of children with disability and/or additional needs enrolled, HLSN applications must only be made for the hours of support that the preschool can spend in accordance with the program spending rules.

Where a preschool is seeking funding to employ an additional worker to provide support to several enrolled children, the support hours requested should be directly related to the number of support hours an individual child will receive. In other words, where a preschool submits applications for multiple children, the preschool should consider individual child funding requests in the context of the funding request for all other children.

Where a preschool has a large number of eligible HLSN funding applications, the department may contact the preschool to gather further information and clarify the program spending rules. The department may also cap funding in consultation with the preschool to ensure the funding allocations provided can be spent on the individual children.

Where a child is enrolled over several days, HLSN funding can be used to support systemic adjustments across their enrolment. Additional supports to assist with the inclusion of children with a disability are also available through the Sector Capacity Building program.

An individual learning plan (ILP) must be developed for each child approved for High Learning Support Needs (HLSN) funding. It should have the following characteristics:

• A written document that details what the preschool will do for the child.
• A working document to help the preschool record each child's developmental progress.
• Developed in consultation and agreement with the child's parents/carers.
• Does not need to be lengthy or complex.
• Updated regularly and reviewed at least every six months.
• Forms part of the planning/documentation of the child's educational program and progress as part of the National Quality Framework.
• Must address the following:
  • Assessment information reports.
  • Information about the child's disability.
  • Roles and responsibilities of team members and other services that may work with the child at the preschool (e.g. early childhood early intervention providers under the NDIS).
  • Summary of the child's strengths, interests and needs.
  • Long term goals and outcomes.
  • Specific short term objectives.
  • Teaching strategies.
  • Ongoing evaluation.
  • Documentation of the transition process (either transition within the preschool or from preschool to school).
  • A preschool can use it to:
  • Document consultation with the child's parents/carers and the reasonable systemic adjustments being made to support the child.
  • Complement the goals and aspirations expressed in the child's NDIS support plans, and the potential for integrated assessment and planning should be taken into account.

Where available reports do not confirm a diagnosis but do indicate ongoing investigation, a preschool observation application for HLSN should be supported by dated preschool observations.

The collected data must indicate the frequency, intensity, and duration of observed behaviours and supports required for the child.

Table 2: What do observations look like?