Disability and Inclusion Program - Inclusive Environments is sponsored by NSW Department of Education. This program provides funding for minor environment adjustments and specialised educational equipment/furniture to support individual children with constant and ongoing support needs attending community preschools, or to improve a preschool's capacity to include children with di…

Disability and Inclusion Program A NSW Government website - Education Staff portal (Inside the department) You have no notifications Get help at EDConnect Online Staff portal (Inside the department) Multi-factor authentication settings Staff portal (Inside the department) Grants and funded programs Disability and Inclusion Program The Disability and Inclusion Program provides funding and support to enable children with disability or additional needs in not-for-profit community preschools to participate in a quality early childhood education program on the same basis as their peers.

Applications for the 2026 Disability and Inclusion Program are now open. The 2026 Disability and Inclusion Program guidelines are now available . The Disability and Inclusion Program is open to community preschools (including mobile preschools) receiving funding under the NSW Start Strong for Community Preschools or Mobile Preschools Funding Program .

increase the capacity of the early childhood education sector to include children with disability and additional needs on the same basis as their peers support equitable education outcomes for children with disability and additional needs during their attendance at preschool and as they transition to school align with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in NSW (the NDIS provides functional support, and this program provides educational support) target funding and support to children who have high learning support needs support quality uplift and ensure children have access to high quality early childhood education programs that drive improved outcomes.

There are four program components of the Disability and Inclusion Program. Component Guidelines/ More Information High Learning Support Needs Funding for children with high learning support needs is provided to develop and deliver each child’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP).

View the 2026 High Learning Support Needs Funding Program Guidelines Inclusive Environments (previously Minor Capital Works) Funding for minor environment adjustments and specialised educational equipment/furniture. View the 2026 Inclusive Environments Funding Program Guidelines Sector Capacity Building Program A training and support program for preschool staff, delivered by Early Childhood Intervention Services.

View the 2025-2026 Sector Capacity Building Program Guidelines Early Childhood Inclusive Education Scholarships A scholarship program for early childhood teachers to undertake a postgraduate qualification in Early Childhood Inclusive Education. View information about the Early Childhood Inclusive Education Scholarship program 7. 2% of children attending NSW community preschools in 2022 were children with disability or additional needs.

[ Review of early childhood education and care, 2023 ] children who participate in a quality early childhood education program for at least 600 hours in the year before school are more likely to arrive at school equipped with the social, cognitive and emotional skills they need to engage in learning all children benefit from inclusive settings in the short and long term, and across a number of developmental domains.

[ Supporting disability inclusion with children and families, 2025 ] The Disability and Inclusion Program is consistent with: the NSW Government's National Partnership Agreement on Preschool Reform Funding with the Commonwealth Government the provisions of the Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Act 2010 and regulations under that law the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 the Disability Standards for Education 2005 the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) .

2026 Disability and Inclusion Program. Learn about the 2026 Disability and Inclusion Program and key updates to the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs. Welcome.

My name is Cat. I work in the Disability and Inclusion Program at the New South Wales Department of Education. In this video, I'll provide you with an overview of the 2026 Disability and Inclusion program.

We'll be focusing specifically on the 2026 High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding program guidelines. We acknowledge that we are recording this video from the lands of the Dharawal people in Southern Sydney. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories.

We strive to ensure every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learner in New South Wales achieves their potential through education. We extend this acknowledgement and respect to the Ongoing Custodians of the various lands on which you are watching this video. Let's begin with a summary of the Disability and Inclusion program, and the key updates to the 2026 High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs.

Please note that this program and video is relevant for community and mobile preschools in New South Wales. If you work at another type of ECEC service, such as long daycare, family daycare, and outside of school hours care, your service may be eligible for the Australian Government’s Inclusion Support Program instead. Please visit the Australian Government’s Inclusion Support Program website for more information.

The Disability and Inclusion Program provides funding and support for community preschools, including mobile preschools, to support children with disability and additional needs to participate on the same basis as their peers. The program has four components, High Learning Support Needs funding, Inclusive Environments (formerly known as Minor Capital Works funding), Sector Capacity Building program, and Inclusive Scholarships.

Today, we'll be focusing on the first two components, High Learning Support Needs or HLSN for short, and Inclusive Environments, IE for short. These programs are available only for not-for-profit community or mobile preschool who are receiving funding under the New South Wales Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschool Funding Program.

High Learning Support Needs, or HLSN, and Inclusive Environments, or IE, applications are submitted in the Early Childhood Contract Management System, known as ECCMS. The Disability and Inclusion Program or DIP funding arrangements remain consistent with previous years, with updates to the program guidelines aimed at providing greater clarity and strengthening understanding of existing arrangements for community and mobile preschools.

The updates made to the program guidelines are based on sector feedback, other stakeholder feedback, and requirements under the New South Wales Government's Grants Administration Guide. They include: Funding rate. Indexation has been applied, and the 2026 funding rate is $27.

57 (excluding GST) per hour for the equivalent of up to 600 hours of support per child per year. Service eligibility criteria. As noted earlier, funding is available for New South Wales community and mobile preschools who are receiving funding under Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschools Funding Program funding.

Funding will not be provided for places or hours in a service that are Child Care Subsidy approved. Inclusion funding and support for children in places or hours that are Child Care Subsidy approved may be available from the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. Child eligibility criteria.

Greater clarification has been made for children who will be homeschooled and to clarify that a child’s citizenship and residency status are not considered as part of determining funding eligibility. School exemptions. Adherence to the relevant state's legislation and processes for school exemption documentation is required for children who will be attending school in a state other than New South Wales.

Exceptional circumstance requests. The guidelines set out information regarding extensions of time for the submission of funding applications. These will be approved under limited and exceptional circumstances.

Spending rules. Explicit reference has been included that HLSN funding should directly support the delivery of high quality ECEC. I will be explaining each of these updates in greater detail in the next video For the Inclusive Environments program, the updates made to provide greater clarity and strengthen understanding of existing arrangements for community and mobile preschools relate to: Funding rate.

IE funding is available for minor construction projects and for specialised equipment or furniture that will enable children with disability and additional needs to participate in the educational program on the same basis as their peers.

We've provided greater clarity about the funding amount available, noting that for specialised equipment or furniture, up to $5,000 per child is available per year, or per application if the application is for more than one child. Similarly, for minor construction, up to $20,000 per child is available, or per application if the application is for more than one child. Service eligibility criteria.

Like the HLSN program, IE funding will not be provided for places or hours in a service that are Child Care Subsidy approved. Inclusion funding and support for children in places or hours that are Child Care Subsidy approved may be available from the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. Child eligibility criteria.

Greater clarification has been made to note that child citizenship and residency status are not considered to determine funding eligibility and for children who turn 3 years old after the 31st of July in that preschool year and demonstrate exceptional circumstances. Additional exceptional circumstance updates for IE include extensions for the submission of IE funding applications.

Additionally, requests for highly specialised, individualised and essential equipment in excess of $5,000 for an enrolled child with significant and complex needs may be considered under very exceptional and rare circumstances. Finally, we have revised the language used to describe one of the IE funding categories. A reminder that IE funding is available for specialised equipment and or furniture or minor construction.

‘Minor construction’ has been updated from ‘environmental modifications’. I will be explaining each of these updates in greater detail in the next video. Thank you for watching.

Please refer to the other recorded videos on this page for more detailed information about the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs. If you have any questions, please contact the department by calling 1800 619 113, or emailing ecec. funding@det.

nsw. edu. au.

You may also like to contact your Sector Capacity Building Provider for advice and assistance to implement inclusive education practices and enhance ongoing inclusion readiness. At the time of the guidelines publication, the department's Sector Capacity Building Program is in place until the 30th of June, 2026.

If you are unsure of who your Sector Capacity Building Provider is, their contact details can be found on the Sector Capacity Building guidelines page, or you can email ecec. funding@det. nsw.

edu. au to request the details. 2026 High Learning Support Needs Program Guidelines.

Learn about the High Learning Support Needs Funding Program and key updates for 2026. In this video, we will provide an overview of the 2026 High Learning Support Needs funding program.

High Learning Support Needs, or HLSN for short, provides funding and support to enable children with disability or additional needs in not-for-profit community and mobile preschools (or community preschools) to participate in a quality early childhood education program on the same basis as their peers.

Additionally, the key objective of the HLSN funding program is to also support quality uplift and ensure that children have access to high quality early childhood education programs that drive improved outcomes.

The HLSN funding arrangements remain consistent with previous years, with updates to the program guidelines aimed at providing greater clarity and strengthening understanding of existing arrangements for community and mobile preschools. HLSN funding is available to develop and deliver the child's Individual Learning Plan, or ILP.

Funding must be used for either or both of the following purposes: to increase the adult to child ratio during identified periods of the child's attendance and/or complete other activities directly related to the development, delivery, and review of the child's ILP. Indexation has been applied for the program year. The HLSN funding rate for 2026 is $27.

57(excluding GST) per hour for up to 600 hours of support per child per year, up to a total of $16,542 (excluding GST) per child per year. HLSN funding is available to support the inclusion of children with disability or additional needs in addition to operational funding available through the Start Strong for Community Preschools and the Mobile Preschools Funding Programs.

Please see Section 3 of the 2026 High Learning Support Needs Funding Guidelines for more information. Following sector feedback, the eligibility criteria for HLSN funding has been further clarified.

For service eligibility criteria, the guidelines note that funding remains available only for not-for-profit community preschools who are receiving funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschool Funding Program. Funding will not be provided for places and hours in a service that are Child Care Subsidy approved.

Inclusion funding and support for children in places or hours that are Child Care Subsidy approved may be available from the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. For child eligibility criteria, the child must either be at least 3 years old on or before the 31st of July in that preschool year and not in compulsory schooling, which includes homeschooling.

Otherwise, the child must turn 3 years old after the 31st of July in that preschool year and demonstrate exceptional circumstances. A child’s citizenship and residency status are not considered to determine HLSN funding eligibility. Please refer to Section 2 of the 2026 program guidelines for further information.

Another component of the HLSN funding program we've provided greater clarity on is about school exemptions. Where an eligible child is turning 6 before the 1st of October 2026 and is still attending preschool, a Certificate of Exemption must be included with the child's application to receive annual funding, if they will be enrolled at a department public school.

For children who will be attending a non-government school, an exemption from enrolment must be issued by the principal of the non-government school. For children who will be attending school in a state other than New South Wales, adherence to the relevant state's legislation and processes for school exemption documentation is required. These exemptions are arranged between families and schools.

Please refer to Section 4. 7 of the 2026 program guidelines for further information. Let's move on to exceptional circumstance requests.

The department may consider requests related to the extension of time for submission of HLSN applications on a case-by-case basis. Extensions will only be approved under limited and exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances are like, or related to the following circumstances which impact the community preschool's ability to submit an application by the relevant cut-off date due to demonstrated reasons beyond its control, such as environmental disaster, unexpected staff absence due to illness, or an inability to access ECCMS.

This is set out in more detail in Section 5: Application opening, closing, and outcome dates of the 2026 program guidelines. I will also be sharing the key dates for the HLSN funding program shortly in this video. The spending rules for 2026 HLSN funding remain unchanged.

We have provided clarity to note that all HLSN funding program spending should directly support the delivery of high quality early childhood education and care and align with the seven quality areas of National Quality Standards, or NQS.

Please note that HLSN funding provided by the department is a contribution to the possible expenses associated with implementing adjustments to enable individual children with a disability and additional needs to be included on the same basis as their peers. A community preschool can choose to employ staff at a higher hourly rate.

The department's contribution to the cost of an additional educator to increase the adult to child ratio regardless of qualification or hourly rate, is $27. 57 (excluding GST) per hour per educator.

Operational decisions such as employment arrangements are not determined by the department or this program, and HLSN applications must only be made for the hours of support that a community preschool can spend in accordance with the program spending rules. Please refer to Section 7 of the spending rules in the 2026 program guidelines for further information. Here are the application cut-off dates for 2026 HLSN funding.

This table also provides information about notification and payment timing. For example, notification of eligibility of applications submitted for Quarter 1 will be sent to service providers in February, 2026. All of these dates are included in Section 5: Application opening, closing, and outcome dates, of the 2026 program guidelines.

The guidelines include more specific information about notification of outcome and payment dates. Here are the dates for the 2026 HLSN opt-in Quarter 1 provisional prepayments. The department will send an email to eligible providers to notify them of the opportunity to opt-in for a provisional prepayment by the 31st of October 2025.

Providers will be required to submit their opt-in form by the 14th of November 2025, and notification of outcome and payment will occur by the 24th of December 2025. Additionally, to receive the opt-in provisional prepayment, the service provider must sign the 2026 Early Childhood Education Funding Agreement Terms and Conditions by the required date, when the Terms and Conditions are available. The opt-in process is voluntary.

More information can be found in Section 3. 3: Provisional prepayment of Quarter 1 2026 HLSN funding. Thank you for watching.

Please refer to the other recorded videos on this page for more detailed information about the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments Funding programs. If you have any questions, please contact the department by calling 1800 619 113, or emailing ecec. funding@det.

nsw. edu. au .

You may also like to contact your Sector Capacity Building provider for advice and assistance to implement inclusive education practices and enhance ongoing inclusion readiness. At the time of the guidelines' publication, the department's Sector Capacity Building Program is in place until the 30th of June 2026.

If you are unsure of who your Sector Capacity Building provider is, contact details can be found on the Sector Capacity Building guidelines page, or you can email ecec. funding@det. nsw.

edu. au to request the details. 2026 Inclusive Environments Program Guidelines.

Learn about the Inclusive Environments Funding Program and key updates for 2026. In this video, we will provide an overview of the 2026 Inclusive Environments Funding Program.

Inclusive Environments, or IE for short, provides funding and support to enable children with disability or additional needs in not-for-profit community and mobile preschools to participate in a quality early childhood education program on the same basis as their peers. The IE Funding Program also supports quality uplift, and ensures children have access to high-quality early childhood education programs that drive improved outcomes.

The IE funding arrangements remain consistent with previous years, with updates to the program guidelines aimed at providing greater clarity, and strengthening understanding of existing arrangements for community and mobile preschools. There are two types of IE funding, child-based funding, and service-based IE funding. Let's start with an overview of child-based funding.

Child-based funding is available for community preschools to support individual children with constant and ongoing support needs currently attending their service.

IE child-based funding is available for specialised equipment or furniture, and/or minor construction, previously environmental modifications, that will enable children with disability and additional needs to participate in the educational program on the same basis as their peers.

Community preschools can apply for up to: $5,000 (excluding GST), per child per year, or per application if the application is for more than one child, for specialised equipment and/or furniture. $20,000 (excluding GST), or per application if the application is for more than one child, for minor construction. Please note, funding will not be provided more than once for the same equipment and/or furniture, or minor construction project.

Funding requests for additional equipment and furniture of the same type can be considered for other children in other applications. Now, let's go through the service-based inclusion readiness funding, which we'll be continuing for the 2026 program year. Eligible community preschools can apply for funding to improve their capacity to include children with disability or additional needs in the future.

Under the service-based inclusion readiness funding stream, up to $5,000 (excluding GST) per community preschool per year is available for specialised equipment, and/or furniture or minor construction, previously environmental modifications.

Please note that to be eligible, the community preschool must not have previously received HLSN or IE funding under the current or equivalent earlier programs, and must not have any children with disability recorded as attending the community preschool in the 2025 Annual Preschool Census, or where applicable, an ad hoc data submission in 2025. The department will notify community preschools who meet the eligibility criteria to apply.

Following sector feedback, the eligibility criteria for IE funding has been further clarified. For service eligibility criteria, we have clarified that IE funding remains available only for not-for-profit community preschools who are receiving funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschool Funding Program. Funding will not be provided for places or hours in a service that are Child Care Subsidy approved.

Inclusion funding and support for children in places or hours that are Child Care Subsidy approved may be available from the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. For child eligibility criteria under child-based funding, the child must either be at least 3 years old on or before the 31st of July in that preschool year, and not in compulsory schooling. This includes homeschooling.

We've also clarified that otherwise, the child must turn 3 years old after the 31st of July in that preschool year, and demonstrate exceptional circumstances. Another clarification we have provided is to note that a child's citizenship and residency status are not considered to determine IE funding eligibility. Please refer to Section 3 and 4 of the 2026 program guidelines for further information.

We have revised the language used to describe one of the IE funding categories. As outlined earlier, IE funding is available for specialised equipment, and/or furniture, or minor construction. In 2025, we referred to minor construction projects as ‘environmental modifications’.

We have now revised this back to ‘minor construction’. Let's move on to exceptional circumstance requests. The department may consider requests related to the extension of time for submission of IE applications on a case-by-case basis.

Extensions will only be approved under limited and exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances are like, or, related to the following circumstances, which impact the community preschool's ability to submit the application by the relevant cut-off date due to demonstrated reasons beyond its control, such as environmental disaster, staff absence due to illness, or an inability to access ECCMS.

This is set out in more detail in the program guidelines. Please refer to Section 5: Application opening, closing, and outcome dates of the 2026 program guidelines for further information. I will also be sharing the key dates for the IE funding program shortly in this video.

Additionally, under the child-based funding stream, funding above $5,000 (excluding GST) for highly specialised, individualised and essential equipment for an enrolled child with significant and complex needs may be considered under very exceptional and rare circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances are like or related to the following, which impacts the community preschool's ability to fund the full cost of the equipment and/or furniture.

The equipment and/or furniture is demonstrated to be highly specialised and individualised, and is essential for the child's access and participation in the educational program, and the community preschool is experiencing financial hardshipand is unable to fund the cost of the equipment and/or furniture. All other eligibility criteria for IE must be fulfilled in this instance.

Here are the application cut-off dates for IE child-based funding. This table also provides information about notification and payment timing. For example, notification of eligibility of applications submitted for Quarter 1 will be sent to service providers in February, 2026.

All of these dates can be found in Section 5 of the funding guidelines. The guidelines include more specific information about notification of outcome and payment dates. Here is the application cut-off and payment date for service-based inclusion readiness funding.

These dates are also available in Section 6 of the IE funding guidelines. Thank you for watching. Please refer to the other recorded videos on this page for more detailed information about the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments Funding programs.

If you have any questions, please contact the department by calling 1800 619 113, emailing ecec. funding@det. nsw.

edu. au. You may also like to contact your Sector Capacity Building provider for advice and assistance to implement inclusive education practices, and enhance ongoing inclusion readiness.

At the time of the guidelines' publication, the department's Sector Capacity Building Program is in place until the 30th of June, 2026. If you are unsure of who your Sector Capacity Building Provider is, contact details can be found on the Sector Capacity Building Guidelines page, or you can email ecec. funding@det.

nsw. edu. au to request the details.

2026 Disability and Inclusion Program Q&A. Learn about the High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments funding programs, and responses to questions received about the 2026 programs. Welcome.

My name is Cat, and I'm a Programs Officer in the Disability and Inclusion Program team at the New South Wales Department of Education. In this video, I will be providing information about the 2026 High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments Funding Programs under the Disability and Inclusion Program.

After the release of the 2026 High Learning Support Needs and Inclusive Environments Funding Program guidelines, we invited Early Childhood Education and Care services to submit questions about the funding programs for an upcoming Q&A video. This form closed on the 12th of November, 2025. This video is intended to respond to and answer the questions received.

They have been grouped as several key topics, which I will share shortly. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge that we are recording this video from the lands of the Dharawal people. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing teachers of knowledge, songlines, and stories.

We strive to ensure every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learner in New South Wales achieves their potential through education, and we extend this acknowledgement and respect to the Ongoing Custodians of the various lands on which you are watching this video.

The Disability and Inclusion Program is available only for not-for-profit New South Wales community or mobile preschools who are receiving funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschool Funding Program.

There are four program components of the Disability and Inclusion Program: the High Learning Support Needs Funding Program, or HLSN for short; the Inclusive Environments Funding Program, IE for short; the Sector Capacity Building Program; and the Inclusive Education Scholarships.

Funding and support for Centre Based Day Care, Outside School Hours Care, and Family Day Care Services that are Child Care Subsidy or CCS approved may be available through the Australian Government's Inclusion Support Program. We would like to remind services that the 2026 HLSN and IE funding program guidelines are available on the department's website.

The guidelines provide information about the HLSN and IE funding programs, such as the programs' eligibility criteria, funding rate, application requirements, and cut-off dates, payment dates, and spending rules. Additionally, pre-recorded information videos about the 2026 Disability and Inclusion Program are available for viewing on the department's website.

The videos provide information about the key updates to the HLSN and IE funding programs. Thank you to the services and service providers who have submitted questions for this video. We have grouped questions received into several key topics, and we'll be responding to these in this video.

This video will be focusing on seven topics: how to apply, application requirements for HLSN and IE funding applications, application outcomes and feedback, simplified applications for HLSN, Quarter 1 or Q1 provisional prepayment and applications, spending rules for HLSN, and 2022 to 2023 Inclusive Education Scholarships.

Let's begin with the first topic, which relates to questions received about how services can apply for the HLSN and IE funding programs. As noted earlier, the HLSN and IE funding programs are available only for not-for-profit New South Wales community or mobile preschools who are receiving funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools or the Mobile Preschool Funding Programs.

Community and mobile preschools must submit applications for the 2026 HLSN and IE funding programs in the Early Childhood Contract Management System, otherwise known as ECCMS, and applications can only be made by staff members of the community preschool or the service provider.

The department will notify Early Childhood Education and Care services and service providers when information about the Digital Hub rollout for the Disability and Inclusion Program is available. The ECEC Digital Hub is for approved providers' review and acceptance of the 2026 Early Childhood Outcomes Funding Agreement Terms and Conditions only.

For further information, please see Section 4 of the 2026 HLSN funding program guidelines and Section 5 of the 2026 IE funding program guidelines. The next topic relates to questions about application requirements, including what information needs to be provided. Let's start with HLSN application requirements.

HLSN applications require at least one of a written diagnosis, NDIS plan, or community preschool observations. One type of evidence is the minimum requirement to support an application. Community preschools may choose to upload more than one type of evidence to support an application.

Additionally, preschools must provide details of how the child functions in the community preschool environment, current and proposed adjustments that enable the child to participate in the educational program on the same basis as their peers, and 2026 enrolment, attendance, and support details of the child at the community preschool, including dates, number of weeks, and hours.

For further information, see Section 4 of the HLSN funding program guidelines. There are two types of IE funding: Child-based and Service-based funding. Child-based IE applications are for funding to support a child or children currently attending the service.

Child-based IE applications require: a description of the children's learning and developmental needs and any disability; a description of the essential minor construction and/or specialised equipment or furniture that are required to enable the children to access and participate in the educational program; if applying for specialised equipment or furniture, supporting evidence from specialised professionals recommending the specialised equipment and/or furniture; a description of how the minor construction and/or specialised equipment or furniture are linked to or will deliver outcomes specified in a child and/or children's Individual Learning Plan or ILP; an itemised quote or quotes clearly indicating the breakdown of cost, excluding GST and freight components where applicable.

Where GST is not clearly indicated, the department will assume that GST is included in the cost and will subtract this amount from the total amount. If applying for specialised equipment or furniture, photocopies or sample pictures from catalogues