KU Merewether Preschool

25 Caldwell Street
MEREWETHER NSW 2291
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  • Monday to Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm
Preschoolers NSW Fee Relief – Preschool

Our Program and Approach

At KU Merewether Preschool, we aim to provide an innovative educational opportunity and experience for all children to develop their unique strengths and realise their full potential.

We recognise this will be different for each child and the key to our teaching is to understand and know children as individuals. We do this through building relationships with children and families from the very first moment.

Our play-based environment offers an exciting opportunity to discover and learn. We believe that through play, children learn the skills of independence, self-regulation and planning, using feelings and dispositions that provide a solid foundation for their lifelong learning and relationships.

Our program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and activities, each specifically designed to promote children’s confidence as capable, active participants in their own learning. Children are presented with a range of experiences including visual arts, gardening, music, physical play, building and constructions, sand and water play, science experiments, early numeracy activities such as counting and measurement, and early literacy activities such as drawing and reading.

At KU Merewether, we are proud of our long history since 1959 and reputation within the local community of providing rich education and care that concentrates on individual children in a family-focussed and supportive way.

We aim to establish an immediate rapport and a sense of belonging in our community, as families arrive through the front door.

We greatly value the strong relationships between our staff, children and families, and we look forward to the opportunity of including your family in the life of our centre.


Our Specialisation

In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of specialisation.

At KU Merewether Preschool, we specialise in learning through ongoing projects and investigations lead by the children’s interests.

We incorporate this throughout our program weaving multiple learning areas and learning styles within our curriculum and beyond.

We feel that the children benefit from project based learning as they delve deeper into understanding areas of interest as we research, discover and learn together. Parents and families also collaborate with the learning extending through to home and back to preschool. We document and display the amazing learning journeys from these projects regularly within the preschool and in digital formats.


Our Quality


Our centre has been independently assessed by the Department of Education NSW under the National Quality Standards, and are proud to be rated as Exceeding the National Quality Standard.


However what matters most is what our families think...

"A big thank you for your effort into making such an amazing, fun learning environment for the children. KU Merewether Preschool is such a special place." - KU Merewether parent

Our Environment

Each KU centre is unique. The best outcomes for children are created within relationships and interactions between children and staff, and children and their families with the environment acting as a supportive element to these relationships. We work hard to create beautiful, interesting, homelike learning environments for children.

Our playground is designed to allow children to explore nature and discover the natural environment. We want children to be able to dig in the mud, climb trees, garden, discover and learn about insects and enjoy connecting with nature. The many play experiences we offer enable children to immerse themselves in the natural elements of their surroundings and feel inspired to create, imagine and play.


Our Reconciliation Action Plan

KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Merewether, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2017 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.


Other Features

Hat and Sunscreen
Transition to School
Public Transport
Play-based Learning
Parking
Outdoor Play
Award
Storypark
Education for Sustainability
University Qualified Educators

photo of Nicole Vesperman

Nicole Vesperman

Director

Nicole is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 20 years’ experience working with children. She has been working at KU Merewether since 2013 and has also taught at TAFE and University, as well as presenting professional development workshops. Nicole is interested in visual arts, connecting to nature and learning through discovery.

Our team of early childhood educators are qualified, experienced, caring and highly motivated. All hold specialist qualifications in early childhood education, and most have worked with KU for more than 15 years. We believe that the positive interactions children have with our staff are the most important component of our high quality program.

The daily fees for 2024 at KU Merewether Preschool are:

Fee Amount
4 year old Start Strong Fee Relief fee FREE
3 year old Start Strong Fee Relief fee $19.50
Start Strong Equity Fee Relief fee FREE
Unfunded fee $87.50

Which fee will you pay?

The NSW Government is committed to ensuring that all children in NSW can participate in 600 hours of quality preschool education in the year before school, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are.

To ensure that affordability is not a barrier for families with young children, the NSW Government provides Start Strong funding making 600 hours, or 15 hours per week, of preschool participation in the two years before school more affordable. In KU preschools, this 15 hours per week is met by enrolling for two days per week.

Start Strong Fee Relief Fee (3 year olds and 4 year olds)

From 2024, the NSW government has provided additional fee relief funding, based on $4,220 per eligible child. This enables NSW preschools to reduce the daily fee as much as possible, within the Start Strong funding parameters.

This funding is for children who turn 3 or 4 years of age by 31 July in the preschool year and are enrolled in a preschool program for 15 hours per week. Across KU Preschools, the ‘15 hours’ is usually met by enrolling in two x 7.5 hour days per week.

Start Strong fee relief can only be accessed at one service, either a preschool or long day care service. This ensures as many children as possible can access affordable early childhood education.

Start Strong Equity Fee Relief Fee

The NSW government provides further funding for children who meet the Start Strong Equity funding criteria. If you think you may be eligible for Equity funding, please speak with the Preschool Director further about this.

Unfunded Fee

The Unfunded Fee is charged when a family has chosen to access the Start Strong fee relief at another community preschool or long day care service.