Child Care News
New report underlines urgent need for guaranteed preschool funding
Mirage News - Australian Education Union - November 13, 2020A call to increase the certainty of Commonwealth funding to guarantee access to preschool is welcome recognition of the critical role that Early Childhood Education (ECE) has in providing equity of opportunity for all children to get the best start to their education. A report by ...
Surf Coast’s Marie Althaus named top local carer at Family Day Care Australia’s Excellence in Family Day Care Award
Geelong Advertiser - Olivia Shying - November 13, 2020For two decades Marie Althaus has taken children under her wing and cared for them at her Surf Coast home. The Surf Coast Shire Family Day Care operator has cared for children aged as young as eight weeks up to the age of 12. This year she has been named the regional educator ...
Bermagui Preschool's new mural fosters connection to country
Bega District News - Albert McKnight - November 13, 2020A new mural, painted during NAIDOC Week, not only brightens a wall of Bermagui Preschool it also fosters connection to country. Gamilaraay artist and musician Dennis Pitt was putting the final touches on the mural adorning the entrance of the preschool on Friday. He said the ideas...
Expansion just the first upgrade at Finley Early Learning Centre
Shepparton News - Daniel Hughes - November 13, 2020Finley Early Learning Centre has extended its capacity by 20, adding a new purpose-built room for its preschool children. The room, located at the end of the centre, offers a spacious learning and entertainment area featuring large floor space and child-size play kitchen. The new build ...
Merrylands: Extra units at Dressler Court rejected, Hilltop Rd childcare centre on hold
The Daily Telegraph - Joanne Vella, Parramatta Advertiser - November 13, 2020A decision has been made on whether another four storeys to a unit complex will be approved, and what the future holds for a childcare centre proposal. Plans to convert at heritage-listed house at 11 Hilltop Rd Merrylands into a childcare centre for 56 children have been deferred so...
The cost of essential goods and services is rising “more rapidly” than the price of non-essential items: ABS
Smart Company - Shannon Jenkins - November 13, 2020The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is seeking feedback on the usefulness of new analysis on how the cost of living affects Australian households. The ABS categorised 87 “CPI components” (i.e. goods and services) as either non-discretionary (essential purchases, such as rent and childcare)...
Fix this lot: Council’s long list of concerns with childcare centre
The Courier Mail - Brendan O’Malley, Westside News - November 13, 2020The developer of a controversial childcare centre proposed on the site of real estate icon Nanette Lilley’s former headquarters at Graceville has been asked to address a long list of concerns. Graceville Skies Pty Ltd has twice asked the State Government to “stop the clock’’ ...
Why early childhood education services should be more like school
Financial Review - Tom McIlroy - November 13, 2020Early childhood education in Australia should be redesigned as a universally accessible and publicly-funded system, focused on improved literacy and numeracy and teaching children to learn, a new report says. Research by consulting firm PwC and the Labor-aligned Chifley Research ...
Victoria and NSW have funded preschool for 2021. It’s shaping up to be a federal election issue
The Conversation - Kate Noble, Victoria University - November 12, 2020This week, Victoria has pledged a $169.9 boost for preschool (called kinder in Victoria) to reduce fees for all four year olds and eligible three year olds in 2021. The announcement came a day after New South Wales pledged free community preschool for three to five year olds...
OPINION | Early intervention key in kids' mental health
The Canberra Times - Dr Josephine Anderson - November 12, 2020Children in rural and remote areas of Australia are needing more support for their mental health and at a younger age. The drought, bushfires and COVID-19 have combined in 2020 to dramatically increase the demand for psychology services in the bush, including for younger children...
How the 'veggie garden' day care educator became the best in the Peel
Mandurah Mail - Daniela Cooper - November 12, 2020Elissa Kalleske shares her story of "a beautiful family in China" who followed her Facebook for more than 12 months before immigrating and moving to Mandurah. They chose Elissa's family day care, named The Little Bee Hive, for their daughter a year before even arriving in Australia...
State politics: Certainty for families with free childcare in 2021
Oberon Review - Bathurst MP Paul Toole - November 12, 2020Working families and young children will benefit from a year of free preschool with the NSW Government announcing funding for community preschools in 2021. This $120 million commitment will help more than 44,000 three to five-year-olds attending community preschool...
The Little School in Floreat wins two-year battle with Cambridge council over road changes
Perth Now - Victoria Rifici, Western Suburbs Weekly - November 12, 2020The owners of a planned Floreat childcare centre are “relieved and very happy” to have been given the go ahead to make road changes, after a two-year battle with Cambridge council. Jessica Mills and Chad Cossom have been granted approval to extend two median strips...
Foreign nannies can help meet Australia's childcare needs
Canberra Times - Ross Taylor - November 12, 2020Ask any couple who has just returned from working overseas as "expats" what they miss most after returning to Australia. Usually they will say they miss having a live-in nanny who can support the family, as the cost of a full-time Australian childcare worker is usually prohibitive...
ACTU calls for oversight to ensure tax payer funding delivers for women
Mirage News - November 11, 2020The major investments in jobs recovery are aimed at male-dominated industries, and the industries most impacted by COVID and dominated by women have been ignored in the budget. The lack of investment in establishing free, universal childcare is missed opportunity...
