Child Care News
New Harmony Learning centre announced on Gold Coast as childcare demand booms
Gold Coast Bulletin - Kirstin Payne - December 4, 2020Parents struggling to find a childcare centre in the New Year can rest easy, with another provider now entering the market. Across the Gold Coast more than 20 childcare centres have no vacancy, with even more offering only limited spaces as the region’s population booms...
COVID-19 in Victorian schools and childcare mainly driven by community transmission
EurekAlert - Murdoch Childrens Research Institute - December 4, 2020Off-site school learning due to COVID-19 should be a last resort, a new Australian report has found. COVID-19 cases in schools, early childhood education centres and childcare are mainly driven by community transmission. Off-site learning should therefore be a last resort, a new...
Home Consortium raises $125 million as fresh spin-off looms
Financial Review - Nick Lenaghan - December 4, 2020Busy property fund manager Home Consortium, led by former investment banker David Di Pilla, has completed a $125 million raising to acquire a group of six properties as it bulks up and prepares to spin off its next investment portfolio... The group includes childcare centres, medical facilities ...
Bayside to call for council front-line staff to get priority status in vaccine roll-out
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader - Jim Gainsford - December 4, 2020Bayside Council will ask that local government front-line staff be given "priority group status" during the early stages of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Australia. The council's front-line staff, who were classified as essential workers during the Public Health Order restrictions ...
Mudgee Preschool's fort is for today and the future, with an nod to the past
Mudgee Guardian - December 3, 2020Many Mudgee Preschoolers stepped foot onto the playground fort over the last three decades, and even though it's now gone, it's replacement has been met with enthusiastic approval. The old fort was built in November 1990 for a cost of $10,919. And in a way it's still around...
How would free early childhood education & care impact your family?
Women's Agenda - Georgie Dent - December 3, 2020"The pre Covid19 cost of child care was punitive, especially for women. I am currently classified as an essential worker, but if we return to previous charges, I will not be able to do what is expected of me as ‘essential’.”; “Free childcare has literally helped me put food on the table...
UWA, Telethon Kids Institute introduce Play Active Program for Perth childcare centres
Perth Now - Greig Johnston - December 2, 2020A new program will inform Perth childcare centres on how to let kids be as physically active as possible throughout the day. The Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years state young children should have three or more hours of physical activity per day...
Too many childcare workers don't know how to ensure kids get daily dose of exercise: Telethon Kids Institute
WA Today - Daile Cross - December 1, 2020Many childcare workers do not know how much physical activity children need, let alone how to ensure their exercise needs are met, Telethon Kids Institute researchers say. Lead researcher, Associate Professor Hayley Christian, said only one-third of children aged two to five achieved ...
Rise in SA child anaphylaxis cases sparks call for mandatory training of all childcare, preschool staff
The Advertiser - Maria Bervanakis - November 30, 2020Hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions have skyrocketed across Australia with children under four accounting for the highest rise in cases. The alarming figures have led to calls for mandatory anaphylaxis training of childcare and preschool staff — but have so far been ignored...
Can governments mandate a COVID vaccination? Balancing public health with human rights – and what the law says
The Conversation - Amy Maguire, Fiona McGaughey, Marco Rizzi - November 30, 2020Earlier in 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he expected the COVID-19 vaccine to be mandatory. He later backtracked, noting the government “can’t hold someone down and make them take it”. But should it be able to mandate vaccination in the interests of public health?
Rise in Victorian child anaphylaxis cases sparks call for mandatory training of all childcare, preschool staff
Herald Sun - Maria Bervanakis - November 30, 2020Hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions have skyrocketed across Australia with children under 4 accounting for the highest rise in cases. The alarming figures have led to calls for mandatory anaphylaxis training of childcare and preschool staff - but have so far been ignored...
Childcare centre owners charged with fraudulently claiming millions in subsidy, stimulus payments
ABC News - November 29, 2020A Melbourne couple has been accused of registering "phantom children" at a childcare centre they operate in order to claim millions of dollars in government payments they are not entitled to. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged Ola Ouda, 42, and Amjad Shehada, 47...
Education minister Dan Tehan says $3.1 billion saved from childcare fraud after AFP investigations
Canberra Times - Sarah Basford Canales - November 28, 2020Investigations into an alleged criminal network setting up false childcare centres in order to receive Commonwealth funding have saved the federal government $3.1 billion over two years, it claims. Education minister Dan Tehan told reporters on Saturday morning...
Newcastle man charged with child abuse, bestiality in connection to global child sex ring
Nine.com.au - Lara Pearce - November 28, 2020A Newcastle man has been charged with child sex offences and bestiality after allegedly being linked to a global online child abuse network. He is the fifteenth Australian to be arrested as part of Operation Arkstone, a major investigation led by the Australian Federal Police (AFP)...
Pay parity for early childhood teachers is not a revolutionary concept
Mirage News - November 27, 2020Early childhood teachers in NSW are impatiently awaiting a commitment from the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, Sarah Mitchell, to match the pay parity agreement announced today by the Victorian government...
