2025 Start Strong for Community Preschools

The Start Strong for Community Preschools program provides funding to deliver affordable quality preschool education for 3 to 5 year old children enrolled in eligible community and mobile preschools in NSW.

Service providers should read all the details in the Start Strong for Community Preschools program guidelines before completing this application form. The current program guidelines can be found here

The information submitted in this application will be assessed against the funding eligibility criteria. The approval of funding applications and provision of ongoing funding is at the discretion of the NSW Department of Education (the department) Early Childhood Outcomes division.

There are four main sections to this application:

1. Applicant information
2. Service type and funding
3. Preschool program
4. Community needs analysis and service viability

You will be asked to upload evidence to support your application. Individual child information is not collected at this point of the application. 

Before you begin, you may preview this form via the menu on the left-hand side. Once you begin the form, you may save your progress and return to it at any time. For help with completing the application form, including information on uploading files, please click here.

For support with this application, please contact the department at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au or by calling 1800 619 113.

The Applicant acknowledges and agrees that:

• submission of this application does not guarantee that funding will be granted and the department expressly reserves its right to accept or reject this application at its discretion;
• they must bear any costs of preparing and submitting this application and the department does not accept any liability for such costs, whether or not this application is ultimately accepted or rejected;
• they have fully informed themselves of the relevant program requirements by reading the 2025 Start Strong for Community Preschools guidelines.

The NSW Department of Education (the department) is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP Act).

By submitting this application form, the Applicant acknowledges that:

• the provision of information in this application is voluntary, however if you do not provide it then the department may be unable to process your application for funding;
• the department will use this information for the purposes of administering the program, assisting future policy development and program design and exercising the department’s governmental functions (including reporting);
• if this application is successful, the relevant details will be made public on the NSW Government Grants and Funding Finder, including details such as the names of the organisation (Applicant), location and amount awarded, in accordance with the Grants Administration Guide;
• the department will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that any information received or in respect of this application which is clearly marked ‘Commercial-in-confidence’ or ‘Confidential’ is treated as confidential, however, such documents will remain subject to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW (GIPA ACT); 
• in some circumstances the department may release information contained in this application form and other relevant information in relation to this application, in response to a request lodged under the GIPA Act or otherwise as required or permitted by law; and
• your personal information will be held and managed in accordance with the PPIP Act, and subject to the privacy policy published by the department.

For further information, please see the department’s Privacy Management Plan and Privacy information and forms webpage.

By proceeding with this application, I confirm that:

• I have read, understood and agree to the above Disclaimer and Privacy Notice;
• I have read the 2025 Start Strong for Community Preschools program guidelines; and
• The service meets the service eligibility criteria as outlined above.