Understanding DE Eligibility calculations in EnrolNow

EnrolNow automatically works out each child's Department of Education (DE) eligibility

For Victorian Kindergartens this includes a child's Pre-Prep priority cohort, Priority of Access, and whether they qualify for ESK/ESE - based on the attributes held on the child's record. These calculations run through a single, centralised eligibility function and display together in the DE Eligibility (auto-calculated) section of the child record.

This article is the starting point for understanding how that works: what each term means, where the values come from, and how they relate to one another. Where you need the precise field-by-field calculation logic, it points you to the detailed reference articles rather than repeating them here.

The key terms

Pre Prep Priority Cohort : the two Pre-Prep priority cohorts defined by the DE. A child's cohort determines which Pre-Prep programs they can see and access. P1 refers to Priority Cohort 1 and P2 refers to Priority Cohort 2
Priority of Access (POA) : indicates if a child meets the DE definition for Tier 1 Priority of access
ESK / ESE — Early Start Kindergarten and Early Start Extension eligibility.

Important distinction: Priority of Access and Pre-Prep are not the same thing. Priority of Access affects a child's score and their priority for a place. Pre-Prep cohort (P1/P2) relates to the number of hours a child can access in a week and which Pre-Prep programs they're eligible for. A child can be high on Priority of Access without being in a Pre-Prep cohort.

How DE eligibility is calculated and where it shows up

Every value in the DE Eligibility (auto-calculated) section is worked out from the child's attributes — the information collected on registration forms or updated on the child's record. Whenever those attributes change, the eligibility values recalculate automatically, so they always reflect the current information held for the child. Because they're calculated, these fields can't be edited directly.

The same eligibility information also flows through to your programs: a program can be classified for a priority cohort, and a child will only see a Pre-Prep program where their own cohort matches the program's classification.

The detail: how each value is calculated

These articles set out the exact attributes and criteria behind each calculated value — useful when you're checking why a child has been assigned a particular cohort or score, or building a report or filter:

Changing a child's eligibility, and classifying programs

Because eligibility is calculated, you don't edit these values directly — you update the underlying attributes and let them recalculate, or you classify your programs to match. These articles cover the how:

Updating the Pre-Prep Priority Cohort for a Child : how to change a child's cohort by correcting the attributes behind it
Classifying a Program for Pre-Prep : setting a program's P1/P2 group, and how the "Only" display policy affects what families see
Editing Programs : how program visibility and Pre-Prep classification work in practice