Child Care News
Spotlight on childcare crisis
Gippsland Times - Zoe Askew - January 25, 2022Under pressure, early learning centres across the Wellington Shire have closed their doors and locked them as Gippsland’s early childhood education and care sector faces an unprecedented increase in demand for childcare while simultaneously dealing with a national...
Cambridge Rd Play & Learn Centre pushed to brink by Covid-19 rules
The Mecury - Alex Treacy, Helen Kempton and Cameron Whiteley - January 25, 2022Tasmanian early childhood educators are being forced into impossible decisions by the “unprecedented pressures” they face as a result of Covid’s continued infiltration into the community, the director of a Hobart centre says.It comes as the Opposition slammed the State...
New ACU course helps ECEC leaders, directors and decision makers with mental health
he Sector - Freya Lucas - January 25, 2022The early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is experiencing ongoing staffing challenges, and this is mirrored in the education sector as a whole, with nearly half of all currently serving teachers saying they have considered leaving the job due to stress...
New childcare centre flagged for Meringandan West
The Chronicle - Michael Nolan - January 25, 2022Plans have been lodged with the Toowoomba Regional Council for a new childcare centre in Meringandan West. If approved it will accommodate about a 100 students. The proposal – put forward by Property Projects Australia – outlines plans for the centre on a 2700 sqm...
NSW reveals pathway back to school plan, with ideas for ECEC
The Sector - Freya Lucas - January 24, 2022While much of the information released focuses on children who are returning to school settings, there is some advice in the release which relates to ECEC settings including: Children and staff are encouraged to wash or sanitise their hands regularly; Enhanced cleaning...
Triple testing with RATs Monday, Wednesday and Friday: SA ECEC plan revealed
The Sector - Freya Lucas - January 24, 2022The South Australian Government has prioritised early childhood education and care (ECEC) for rapid antigen testing (RAT) as part of “surveillance COVID-19 testing” along with a staggered start to the 2022 academic year. Further details about the State’s ‘Back to School’...
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) COVID-19 guidance for families
NSW Government - January 23, 2022Children are less likely to have serious illness from COVID-19, but they can still transmit the virus to others and therefore it is important to follow the health advice and consider your individual circumstances. The National Centre for Immunisation Research and...
NSW schools to hand out millions of RATs under twice-a-week testing regime
The Sydney Morning Herald - Lucy Cormack, Natassia Chrysanthos and Lisa Visentin - January 23, 2022Every school student and staff member at government and non-government schools will be asked to complete a rapid antigen test twice-a-week for the first four weeks of term. Childcare staff will also be supplied with twice-weekly RATs. Families can choose what day...
What are the new rules for Victorian students returning to school?
The Age - Robyn Grace and Ashleigh McMillan - January 23, 2022School and early childhood staff will be added to the list of workers who must receive a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by February 25, or within three months and two weeks of receiving a second dose to continue working in education settings. Ventilation...
Three Covid tests a week for childcare workers under new SA rules
The Mercury - Chris Russell - January 21, 2022Staff at childcare centres will be required to test themselves for Covid-19 three times a week before going to work, under new rules announced by the state government on Friday. At schools, from reception upwards, staff and students will face a series of restrictions...
Anglicare marks 45 years of Family Day Care service in Goulburn
Goulburn Post - January 21, 2022As Anglicare NSW South, NSW West and ACT marks the 45th year of providing Family Day Care services in the Goulburn region, the organisation is calling on more people to consider becoming educators. Commencing in 1977, Anglicare's Family Day Care services...
Closing rooms because of COVID? Make sure to get it in writing to allow gap fee waivers
Then Sector - Freya Lucas - January 21, 2022Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services who are closing a room or rooms of their service because of staffing challenges arising from COVID-19 are being reminded that they can only waive gap fees for the affected families if they have written advice from a...
Hundreds of childcare centres closed as Omicron ‘rips through’, and the health emergency is tipped to get worse
7 News - Hannah Ryan - January 21, 2022Hundreds of Australia’s early education centres are closed as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 washes over the country, and there are calls for more financial support for the struggling sector. Some 286 centres were on Thursday closed temporarily due to a health...
NT parents, childcare centers navigate COVID-19 uncertainty, call for free RAT kits
ABC News - Lauren Roberts and Myles Houlbrook-Walk - January 21, 2022David Reynolds Suter, from the Arnhem Early Learning Centre in Nhulunbuy, wants the Commonwealth or NT government to provide cheap or free rapid antigen tests (RATs) for childcare workers and the kids they look after. "Getting [a RAT] as you walk in the door...
Member for Bendigo calls on Federal Government to do more to keep ECEC open
The Sector - Freya Lucas - January 20, 2022Lisa Chesters, Federal Member for Bendigo in Victoria, has called on the Federal Government to act quickly to help keep local early childhood education and care (ECEC) services open, safe and viable. Ms Chesters said that parents, educators and centres are worried...
