Enrolment

Children must be enrolled at school by the age of 6. This is the compulsory starting age for children in South Australia.

Government primary schools have 2 major enrolment intakes from 2024, one for children at the beginning of the year (intake 1) and one for children to start school in term 3 (intake 2).

If your child turns 5 years old:

• before 1 May they can start reception in term 1 of that year.
• between 1 May and 31 October, they can start reception in term 3 (mid-year).
• after 31 October they can start reception in the following year.

Children who start reception at the beginning of the year will generally complete 4 terms of reception, while children who start reception through the mid-year intake will complete 6 terms of reception.

If you are considering enrolling your child to start school mid-year (ie term 3), you might be interested in the preschool mid-year the year prior, so they can do 4 terms before starting school. See starting preschool.

Most primary schools usually open their application process for the next year before the end of term 2 in the current year. You can apply for either the start of the year (intake 1) or the start mid-year (intake 2) through this process.

Please check your local school by using the below tool.

Online tool to find a school.

You can apply to enrol your child in a school that’s not your local school, but offers will depend on available places. Visit school placements for information about how places are decided.

Seacliff Primary School Reception Registration of Interest Form

Applications should be in by the end of term 2. Schools will still accept applications after the end of term 2, but if you apply after schools have made their enrolment offers, it might mean it becomes more difficult to get into a non-local primary school, or a primary school with a capacity management plan.

You can apply to more than 1 primary school. You should also apply at your local primary school in case your application to the non-local primary school is not successful.

See the school and preschool enrolment policy (PDF 711 KB) for further detail.

We have a SEACLIFF PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT HANDBOOK for families enrolling children at Seacliff Primary School.