05/09/2026
🛑 👋 something to stop on…
At IDFS we're a not-for-profit, community-based preschool and early education provider. Every dollar goes back into our children, our educators and our services 💛🏡
Part of what that looks like in practice is running better than the minimum ratio wherever we can - and always where children need higher learning support. Not because the regulations say so, but because it's what quality early education actually requires 👧🧒
The ratios in this post were set a decade ago. What we know about the developing brain, about inclusion and about what educators are being asked to carry has moved a long way since then. The minimum hasn't. Governments at every level need to recognise that.
⏩ Here in NSW, the preschool funding model is being rebuilt for 2027. While the ratio here is 1-10 for 3yrs and over, not 11, it still isn’t enough. Recent correspondence and current guidance tells services operating above ratio to plan to adjust back to it! 📉
We'd ask the NSW Government and Minister Prue Car MP to make sure the new model does the opposite - that it funds the quality the community sector already delivers, recognises the extra hands inclusion demands, and doesn't quietly push good practice back to a dated minimum!
Community preschools are a big part of what makes the NSW early education system work, and uphold quality. Fund us to keep doing it well 🌱
Kindamindi Preschool Jack and Jill Preschool Ashford Preschool IDFS Tingha Preschool Northern Roads Activity Van - Delungra and Gilgai Northern Roads Activity Van - Gum Flat
