kindy in QLD

[teresa]

Hi,

Just after some advice for a friend of mine. Her DS is 3 (4 in april) and she will need to send him to kindy. anyway only her DH works at the moment and she said that she cant put her son in kindy as its run thru all daycare centres and she cant afford to send him as she wont be entitled to any help from centrelink. Do the schools offer kindy like they do in SA? I am a bit confused as to why they wouldnt.

Can anyone help out with any suggestions at all?

TIA xx

[Me+him+bub]

I would love to know the answer to this too, I am not entitled to any rebate due to earning too much but my son would love to go to kindy he has so much energy and it would benefit him just sucks its so expensive!

hope you get an answer soon!

[Bella29]

We earn too much but still get 50% rebate on daycare. Everyone does. Plus I think that daycare is subsidised for everyone.

[teresa]

from what she has told me she cant get the benefit but can only get 40% of the rebate.

[Floweryfields]

The question I think is do schools run kindy in Qld like in SA. The answer is no - kindy is the year the child turns 4 and is run through either long day care or private institutions such as C&K. They don't because kindy is nothing to do with the education dept - kindy (as it is called) in other states is for older children (turning 5/6) and the same as our prep from what I understand, which is run through schools. I do wish we had a uniform title for it throughout the country to avoid confusion.

If your friend does not get any benefit, that means that they are on a reasonably significant income (over $120 000 as far as I remember) families earning under that have a sliding scale and receive varying amounts of rebate according to income. The 50 % rebate only applies where families are working/studying (both parents) so she would not be entitled to that either.
Families not receiving anything can claim at the end of the financial year and sometimes will get soome money back then.

I might be going out on a limb here, but a family earning a large amount like that should be able to budget in at least one day of kindy per week.....in my opinion only obviously.

[Floweryfields]

We earn too much but still get 50% rebate on daycare. Everyone does. Plus I think that daycare is subsidised for everyone.

No, not everyone gets the 50% - you must meet certain criteria from centrelink - ie both parents working/studying or a few other reasons. A family with a stay at home mum would normally not be entitled to it.

from what she has told me she cant get the benefit but can only get 40% of the rebate.

Not sure what you're talking about here - if you get the rebate, you get 50% there is no other amount for that. That is 50% of the families out of pocket expenses paid to the centre.

[myturn]

I might be going out on a limb here, but a family earning a large amount like that should be able to budget in at least one day of kindy per week.....in my opinion only obviously.

probably depends on what their costs are though... for example - if they have a big home loan there still may not be much 'other' income left to do extras like this

I do look forward to a 'national curriculum' - after all we do live in the same country - it's so weird that education is so different in every state!

[Me+him+bub]

they consider your pay before tax so even if it looks like you earn a lot it often isn't the case, trust me. I get the rebate but not the benefit, or is the other way around? I don't know anymore! my son doesn't even go anymore anyway. 2 school teachers or nurses easily earn over $120 000 a year, now you don't see them driving BMW's or living on waterfront.

teresa - has your friend considered just going back part time/cutting back work to be able to claim some money, or even stay home longer if they can manage, I was paying $270 a week for 3 days daycare for one child, I cut back coz the extra time I was putting in was not worth it. You get some back at tax time or every three months though.

[teresa]

thanks for your replies!

her DH earns the same as mine as they do the same job and there is no way they earn over $100 000 at all. she has 3 other children, 2 older ones at school and the youngest is about to turn 1.

In SA children attend a kindy at a local primary school which was why i was getting confused as to why the other states didnt do it. i guess SA is just very different.

My friend did tell me it was going to cost her $92 a day for her DS to attend a childcare centre for kindy in QLD. i thought that was rather excessive.

sorry i get confused between the rebate and the benefit.

[Bella29]

Oh glad u girls have mentioned about the 50% rebate thing for working parents! I will have to call centerline cos I am on mat leave, having had a baby last week. Not officially tho cos I was only a casual employee. So I don't know I that will change our circumstances now... I hope not. Not that I mind paying for child care. We r on a good income. But 70+ dollars a day is very expensive if u don't get 50% back. I will call them this week when I find out if we do end up getting any mat leave payments for me... It is a bit complicated for me cos I was a full time employee then went casual and got put on temporary contract constantly... Sigh... Can't expect qld health to really look after their nurses.

[teresa]

we are paying $60 a day without the benefit or rebate for DS to be in child care. thats why i dont understand why its going to cost her $90+ a day and DS will be in care from 630am till almost 4pm.

[JLeigh29]

I am in QLD and DS has his name down at the local community kindy for when he turns 4. It's 2 days one week, three days the next. Not sure how $$$ it is, but I believe the 50% rebate for out of pocket expenses still applies. My next door neighbour is starting her 3 1/2 yo there next week. It is now also compulsory for day care operators to offer a kindy program. My friend's little one went last year. She said it was more $$$ than just 'normal' day care, but not sure exactly how much more. Also, the school I used to work in now has a kindy attached, run by C and K, but it's a dedicated kindy (doesn't provide for other age groups).

So, she could try to get him into a community kindy, one through a daycare centre, or one attached to a school. Either way it doesn't have to be full time and it certainly won't cost her that much! She needs to do a bit more looking around.

After kindy there is prep, for children who are 4 turning 5, then year 1, year 2 etc. From prep onwards, they are at school. HTH

Also, I have just applied for CCR and CCB and parents are entitled to 24 hours of care a week without meeting the work test requirements. That's what the Centrelink site says anyway!!!

[teresa]

oooh thanks for that! will let her know!

[Floweryfields]

Also, I have just applied for CCR and CCB and parents are entitled to 24 hours of care a week without meeting the work test requirements. That's what the Centrelink site says anyway!!!

24 hours is CCB - so yes all families get that regardless of work situations - working parents usually qualify for 50 hours. CCR is definitely tested.

From centrelink site:

CCR basic elligability
* Child must attend an approved service (some kindys aren't approved for CCB)
* Claimant must be elligable to receive CCB (even if a zero rate)
* Both partners must pass the CCB work, training study test

And

Y

ou may be eligible for up to 50 hours of Child Care Benefit for approved child care per week if you meet the work, training or study test. To meet the test, you and your partner must undertake work or work-related activities such as training or studying for at least 15 hours per week. You may be exempt from the work/training/study test.

You meet the requirements for Child Care Rebate if you worked, studied or trained at some time during the week in which you used child care.

Hope that helps!

2 school teachers or nurses easily earn over $120 000 a year, now you don't see them driving BMW's or living on waterfront.

Totally agree, I suppose my point was more that a family who does receive full CCB earns as little as around $38 000 per year, so for them $70-90/ day would be so unreachable, they probably pay between $15-30/day. So when you put it in perspective, someone earning 3-4 times more has the means to pay more, so that's the reasoning behind the rules. It's not necessarily fair that someone working to support their family has to pay so much more than a family who may not choose to work at all, as an example. Just trying to explain the rules and reasoning as I know them!

[courts&munchkins]

My son is going to a kindergarten centre this year. It's not run through a daycare but it does have fees and they are very dear. About $550 a term. Dearer than the prep year at the private school. It works on a 5 day fortnight. And is a kindergarten program to transition them to be ready for prep.

[JLeigh29]

Didn't you say your friend has a one year old? Surely that would exempt her from the work, study, training test??

Mumof2boys - $550 a term sounds expensive, but that's only $55 a week, which is cheaper than care... And wouldn't you get half of that back? As Ausgirl said, it's all relative though.

[teresa]

thanks again everyone

yes she does have a one year old. i would think that would make her exempt too.

tbh i really dont think she has done her research properly. i have suggested many things to her but always get told that she either cant claim in or just cant do it. i suggested maybe doing a small tafe course so she could claim the benefit but got told no cant do that. i suggested maybe doing a business at home, again got told no. told her maybe to chat with centrelink or family assistance office and got told no cant do that they wont help me i have already asked. i know i must seem strange asking all these questions but its a last ditch effort to try and help her.

thanks again everyone. i am sure she can get help of some kind somewhere.

[JLeigh29]

Drove past a child care centre today and they had a big poster up that said 'Kindy fee relief for concession card holders' or something like that. Couldn't read the rest of it, but it was a Centrelink/Government poster, so that's worth a look too...