Organisational requirements

Partner Providers must:

• have an ABN and be registered for GST
• demonstrate ongoing financial viability and declare to the OECD any previous or current legal or financial misconduct
• have relevant policies and procedures relating to child safe environments, as required under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 and the National Law and National Regulations for all Partner Services
• hold and provide evidence of $20m Public Liability Insurance, including coverage for allegations of historic or current child abuse for all Partner Services
• be an Approved Provider under National Law and maintain a centre-based care service approval under the National Law, and the National Regulations for all Partner Services*
• ensure all Partner Services from which the preschool program is delivered are in South Australia
• ensure all Partner Services deliver 3-year-old preschool as a minimum and can also deliver 4-year-old preschool. Provision can be in mixed age rooms.

* The OECD may consider the eligibility of providers that meet the preschool program objectives but are not currently Approved Providers under the National Law and National Regulations. In particular, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation-operated Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services not currently regulated under the National Law. The OECD has absolute discretion to determine provider and service eligibility.

Partner Providers and their Services must provide data (which includes personal information – see below) to the OECD for the duration of their Funding Agreement as detailed in Section C.

The OECD may request that Partner Providers and their Services capture and submit additional data as part of evaluation participation. This may involve, for example:

• capturing additional data
• extracting data from internal systems
• facilitating on-site data collection; and
• facilitating staff or family participation in data collection (such as interviews, focus groups, or surveys).

Additional data requirements for evaluation will be part of an OECD-approved evaluation design, developed in consultation with sector representatives where appropriate.

From January 2027, there will be a new approach to gaining consent for information sharing from parent/guardians that responds to feedback received from Partner Providers and Services, making it clearer and easier for families/guardians.

This process will start in early 2027 for children commencing Flying Start preschool mid-2027. For enrolments commencing preschool prior to this, the 2026 process will remain in place as per the 2026 Policy and Funding Guide (declaration and consent forms required for universal 3- and 4-year-old preschool, as well as for Preschool Plus). This transition time is proposed to provide Partner Providers and Services time to embed this approach into their processes.

Consent requirements

Consent is required from families to share personal information with the OECD across universal and Preschool Plus 3- and 4-year-old preschool programs

The data that Partner Providers and their Services must provide to the OECD includes the personal information of children enrolled at the service and their families.

When dealing with personal information, Partner Providers and their Services must comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

As part of those obligations, Partner Providers and their Services must ensure that parents/guardians:

• know that the Service is collecting their personal information
• understand that the Service will share this information with the OECD each year that the child is enrolled at the service, commencing from the year before the child turns 3 (or immediately upon enrolment if the child enrols at the service after turning 3)
• are notified or made aware of how the OECD will use the information and who it shares it with, as set out in the OECD’s Privacy Notice – Flying Start preschool programs; and
• consent to the Service sharing this information with the OECD.

If parents/guardians do not consent to their information being shared, the OECD will not be able to provide funding to a Partner Provider or the Service in relation to the relevant child.

Partner Providers and their Services are responsible for ensuring they comply with their privacy obligations when collecting and sharing personal information and should seek their own legal advice as required.

Information sharing consent requirements

Subject to Partner Providers legal advice, Partner Providers and their Services may include the following statement (however must provide a link to the OECD’s privacy notice) in their enrolment information/forms to obtain consent from parents/guardians to share information with the OECD:

“If your child is enrolled at this service when they are aged 2 and above, we will share certain personal information that we have collected about you and your child with the South Australian Office for Early Childhood Development (OECD), which administers the Flying Start preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds and the Preschool Plus program.

The information the OECD collects, how it uses it and who it discloses it to is explained in the OECD’s Privacy Notice – Flying Start preschool programs.

[tick box for parent/guardian] I consent to the service sharing this personal information with the OECD in the year before my child turns 3 (or immediately upon enrolment if my child enrols after turning 3) and each year thereafter until my child leaves the service.”

If Partner Providers and their Services obtain parental/guardian consent as described above, the relevant Partner Service does not also need to require families to sign a separate consent form, which was the previous method for recording the consent of families for their information to be shared with the OECD.

If preferred, an OECD consent form will remain available to Partner Providers and their Services on the OECD website and can be printed and provided to parents/guardians to complete and return to the service.

Partner Providers must retain the signed consent together with the child’s enrolment records and provide it to the OECD upon request for the purpose of reporting or funding compliance reviews.

This consent should therefore be classified as a child enrolment record as set out in regulation 160 of the National Regulations.

Confirming universal 3-year-old preschool enrolments

For use from January 2027 to support mid-2027 enrolments, Partner Providers and their Services will be provided with a Flying Start 3-year-old preschool confirmation notice.

This notice must be supplied to parent/guardians of children who are attending the service and who, based on their age, are eligible to commence 3-year-old preschool in the following 12 months. Partner Services must provide this to eligible families in July for the start of the next calendar year commencement, and January for a mid-year commencement. This notice should also be provided to any new enrolments for the service that meet the same age eligibility, after these periods, either at the same time or after they have consented to information sharing with the OECD, through the above mentioned process.

This notice will advise parents/guardians that their child is eligible to commence 3-year-old preschool the following year and that the Partner Service will receive funding to support their child’s Flying Start 3-year-old preschool program if the child remains enrolled at the service. The notice only requires parents/guardians to notify the Service if any of the following circumstances apply:

• they are seeking to defer the commencement of their preschool funding based on their child’s intended school start date
• they are electing to notify the Partner Service that their child will be leaving this Partner Service entirely before they will start 3-year-old preschool – including if they intend to enrol at another service
• their child is enrolled in two long day care services and both are partnered to offer 3-year-old preschool, and they want their child to receive their 3-year-old preschool program at the other long day care service
• their child is Aboriginal and the parent/ guardian is seeking to take up their entitlement to preschool in a government service; or
• their child is in care and the parent / guardian is seeking to take up their entitlement to preschool in a government service.

The notice will include a section for parents/guardians to complete only if any of the above circumstances apply. If these circumstances do not apply, the parent / guardian does not need to take any action.

If any of these circumstances are identified through the notice, Partner Services should confirm the parent/guardian understands the eligibility policy and remove the relevant child’s information from any data requested by the OECD, as per the data collection requirements in Part C.

Confirming universal 4-year-old preschool enrolments

For use from 2027, Partner Providers and their Services will be provided with a Flying Start preschool confirmation notice that they must supply to parent/guardians of children who are attending the service and who, based on their age, are eligible to commence 4-year-old preschool at the next intake.

This notice will seek to confirm where a child will be accessing their 4-year-old preschool program, including if they attend more than 1 service and are accessing part of their preschool entitlement at another service.

A consent and enrolment confirmation guide for the new process, and relevant forms will be available on the website from late 2026.

Partner Providers are required to:

• ensure funding associated with a Partner Service is attributed to that service (unless allowable pooling of funds specified in spending rules), and that there is transparency between Providers and Services in funding information; and
• support Partner Services in meeting the partnership requirements.

Funding and fees

Partner Providers are required to ensure that Partner Services clearly communicate to families that the South Australian Government is providing funding to cover the additional costs associated with delivering a teacher-led program

This funding is intended to meet those additional costs. Therefore, Services are not permitted to increase fees for families enrolling in a preschool program.

Displaying preschool program information

At all times, Partner Services must have physically on display at the Service:

• preschool program operating days and times
• name and qualifications of the ECT or other qualified position delivering the program; and
• Flying Start partner preschool signage.

Record keeping

The OECD may conduct a compliance review of a Partner Provider and/or their Service in relation to preschool funding and policies, and request that supporting documentation is provided, such as:

• proof of expenditure in line with spending rules
• statements to families showing fee reduction and attributing fee relief to the South Australian Government (including but not limited to Fee Relief for Aboriginal children and Preschool Plus Fee Relief)
• priority of access policies; or
• evidence of meeting consent requirements (forms, confirmation letter or general enrolment forms).

Partner Service changes

Partner Providers must notify the OECD if there are any changes to its Partner Service(s) that may affect the application or conditions of the Funding Agreement, such as a:

• change of ownership
• change of service approval details
• service closure; or
• withdrawal from preschool program provision.

Change of ownership or service approval

Partner Service status does not transfer with a change of service details, either through:

• the transfer of a service approval to another Approved Provider; or
• an application for a new service approval with the Education Standards Board of South Australia (ESB).

The OECD requires 90 days’ notice for a change in Approved Provider. Where the new Approved Provider is not an existing Partner Provider, they must request to become one by submitting required documentation and being assessed as meeting the organisational requirements.

Service ceases to operate

If a Partner Service closes or ceases trading, the Partner Provider must:

• give 90 days’ notice in writing prior to ceasing delivery/intending to close by contacting the OECD via email OECD.PreschoolFunding@sa.gov.au
• agree to distribution of local service information, prepared in partnership with the OECD to support families consider their options
• complete all outstanding financial acquittals (including where applicable, a programmatic and financial acquittal against the Service’s Partnership Plan)
• stop spending funds after the date of closure/cessation
• return all unexpended and unaccounted funds to the OECD no later than 30 days after the service closure/cessation date, or as agreed by the OECD
• comply with any direction by the OECD in accordance with the Funding Agreement.

The OECD may act if a Partner Provider has advised that it proposes that a Partner Service will close or cease trading, including withholding funding for the service where it relates to a period after the proposed date of closure.

No funding will be provided by the OECD for a service that has closed or ceased trading, for any period after the date of closure/cessation.

Note: Approved Providers must follow steps to comply with regulatory requirements under the National Law and National Regulations, including notifying the ESB within 7 days of ceasing to operate the education and care service.²

Withdrawing from provision of preschool program

Where a Partner Provider notifies the OECD that a Partner Service will not deliver a funded preschool program, the provider:

• must give 90 days’ notice in writing prior to ceasing delivery by contacting the OECD via email: OECD.PreschoolFunding@sa.gov.au
• will not be eligible for preschool funding from the point at which they cease delivery
• will be removed from all future data collections,
• complete all outstanding financial acquittals (including where applicable, a programmatic and financial acquittal against the Service’s Partnership Plan)
• return all unexpended and unaccounted funds to the OECD no later than 30 days after the last day of delivery, or as agreed by the OECD
• comply with any direction by the OECD in accordance with the Funding Agreement; and
• will need to reapply if seeking funding for that service to become a Partner Service again.

Please note there are different requirements for Partner Services operating as an Integrated Hub, covered in the Funding Agreement.

Temporary closures

If a Partner Service is temporarily closed and cannot offer a preschool program, the Partner Provider must contact the OECD in writing via OECD.PreschoolFunding@sa.gov.au and provide the following information in relation to the service:

• the circumstances for the temporary closure
• how long the service will be or was closed
• when the service will reopen.

If the temporary closure is planned, the OECD requires a minimum of 90 days’ notice in writing.

Local Teams

The OECD has a statewide network of Local Teams. These teams will support early childhood services – both Partner Services and those seeking to become Partner Services – to navigate and implement the early childhood reforms.

There are 8 Local Teams dedicated to regions across South Australia with expertise to help guide the implementation of Flying Start preschool. Some key activities include:

• sharing resources to build understanding of the early childhood reforms among services, families and communities, including through educator and family information sessions
• supporting services to understand partnership requirements and help them implement these to a high standard. This includes helping services to understand Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data³ and to develop Flying Start Partnership Plans that are meaningful to their communities
• supporting services to problem solve, sharing practical examples of solutions to issues or helping address barriers they are experiencing in implementing the reforms
• connecting service providers with other services and community organisations in their region, through Professional Networks and informal opportunities
• listening to services and sharing feedback on local community needs to central policy and program areas to inform and refine policy and program decisions.

There is more information about the Local Teams on the OECD website. Contact the Local Teams via email at OECD.LocalTeams@sa.gov.au.

The OECD’s approach to monitoring partnerships seeks to maximise the ability of Partner Providers and their Services to meet the requirements of the Funding Agreement, recognising the need to build the model in a way that reflects the phases of implementation and roll-out. This approach is guided by the principles to place children at the centre, support the sector, and maintain consistent, transparent and proportionate oversight.

The OECD will conduct routine monitoring activities across the year, focusing on the Partner Provider and Partner Services’ compliance with the partnership requirements.