Gowrie Victoria has recently been appointed as the approved provider for Oberon Kindergarten, Belmont.
Oberon Kindergarten will be a 99-place service offering kindergarten programs to three- and four-year olds from 2026.
Information on the available days and hours will be available shortly and enrolments will open soon. Please e-mail us at kinder.enquiries@gowrievictoria.org.au to register your interest or if you have any questions.
Scheduled to open Term 1, 2026. Subject to final service approval.
Gowrie Victoria champions excellence in early learning and implements a play-based emergent curriculum. The environments are flexible, stimulating, inviting, and purposefully arranged to capture children’s interests, ideas, and cater to individual needs. The use of natural resources creates open-ended play spaces for children to imagine, create, and discover.
Gowrie’s approach to early childhood learning and development is built on the National Early Years Learning Framework and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework’s vision to provide children with a sense of Belonging, recognise and celebrate their Being and support their Becoming.
This vision forms the foundation of our work with children and their families and is recognisable in all elements of our Early Years Program. Educators support your child to explore this vision through responsive interactions and the provision of engaging learning experiences and environments.
Kindergarten Programs at Gowrie
At Gowrie we offer both three and four-year-old funded kindergarten programs across our services. These kindergarten programs are designed to meet government guidelines to support children’s participation in high quality early childhood education.
We are excited to build strong and lasting relationships with children, families, schools and the early childhood community in Geelong.
FAQs
Kindergarten is an important step for your child. While kindergarten isn’t compulsory for Australian children, the Department of Education strongly recommends that all children attend a kindergarten program in the two years prior to starting school.
Research has shown that:
- Your child’s brain will develop faster in the first five years of life than at any other time.
- Early education helps set children up for a bright future.
- Attending two years of quality kindergarten has added benefits.
- At kindergarten, children learn skills that they’ll take with them throughout their life
Research shows that quality, play-based learning is a powerful way to support children’s learning and development. The benefits last into the school years and beyond. Kindergarten improves children’s health and wellbeing, helps them to develop strong social skills, and encourages a love of learning. Children who go to kindergarten are more independent and confident and are more likely to make a smooth transition to primary school.
Free kindergarten is available for all three- and four-year-old children enrolled at Gowrie Victoria sessional kindergarten programs.
For three-year-old pre-kindergarten, your child must be three years old on or before 30 April in the year that they are to attend the program. If your child turns three after the kindergarten year starts, some of our programs may require a delayed attendance until the child’s third birthday.
A child is eligible to attend a four-year-old state-funded kindergarten program when they turn four on or before 30 April in the year before they attend school.
Early Start Kindergarten gives eligible children 15 hours of free or low-cost kindergarten per week for two years before starting school.
To be eligible, your child must be three by 30 April in the year they start kindergarten and meet one of the following criteria:
- Be from a refugee or asylum seeker background
- Identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- Your family has had contact with Child Protection
No. A child can only be enrolled to receive kindergarten funding at one kindergarten service. Families will confirm their acceptance of funding upon enrolment and further information will be provided on this.
If your child is attending more than one service, you will need to nominate which service you would like to accept funding for, and a signed nomination form will be completed upon enrolment.
