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Starting school: NSW public schools with Kindergarten

Kindergarten is the first year of school in NSW, and the entry year for nearly every public primary, infants and central school. Because almost all primary schools begin at Kindergarten, this list is close to the full set of NSW public primary schools; what makes it useful is knowing which one you are entitled to and when your child can start.

When a child can start

A child can start Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year if they turn five on or before 31 July of that year. Starting is not compulsory until the year a child turns six, so families of children born between February and July can choose to start straight away or wait a year. Enrolment applications are made directly to the school, usually from the middle of the year before.

Which school

Every address in NSW falls inside the catchment of a local public school, and that school must offer a place to children who live there. Applying to a school outside your catchment is possible but not guaranteed. Some children begin at an infants school (Kindergarten to Year 2) and move to a primary school for Year 3, while a central school runs from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

The first weeks

Most schools run orientation sessions in Term 4 of the year before. In the first weeks of Kindergarten, teachers run the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment, a one-to-one check of early literacy and numeracy used to plan teaching, not to rank or grade children. Learning in Early Stage 1 is largely play-based and builds toward reading, writing and number.

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