Child Care News
New preschool for children with cancer opens in Adelaide's south
The Advertiser - Ashleigh Pisani - November 13, 2018The first preschool for children with cancer in the southern suburbs has opened in Aberfoyle Park. Jolyn Phillipps was inspired to start Lion Hearts Learning in an effort to combat the isolation children with cancer and their families often feel after her three-year-old daughter...
Preschool deal for 2019 signed by state, federal governments
The Advertiser - Jade Gailberger - November 12, 2018More than 22,000 South Australian children have been guaranteed preschool classes next year. Education Minister John Gardner will on Monday announce that the State Government has signed a deal with the Federal Government under a $28.4 million...
A Tassie trial of free preschool placements to start by 2020
The Mercury - Jim Alouat - November 12, 2018PARENTS of eligible three-year-olds in Kingborough and the Derwent Valley will be among the first in Tasmania to trial a new free preschool placement program. Last year, the State Government scrapped its controversial plan to lower the school starting age...
Three Hunter preschools were given drought-relief payments
Maitland Mercury - Belinda-Jane Davis - November 12, 2018A drought-relief payment made to three Hunter preschools has sparked questions about how the state government’s $3 million scheme was rolled out. Hunter Mobile Preschool, Branxton Preschool and Greta Community Preschool have shared in almost $33,000...
Limit your own screen time, parents are urged
The Guardian - Michael Savage - November 11, 2018Parents need to drag themselves away from their smartphones and tablets and ensure that their young children are ready to learn at school, according to the education secretary. Damian Hinds said that, while a lot of attention had been placed on limiting the screentime of children...
Two more childcare centres knocked back
Courier Mail - Brendan O'Malley - November 12, 2018TWO controversial westside childcare centre proposals have been knocked back by Brisbane City Council in major wins for residents. A proposed development at 70 Fleming Rd, Chapel Hill, was refused by Council due to its probable environmental impacts. City Planning Chairman...
Up to seven years jail time for people who conceal child sex abuse under new laws
The Daily Telegraph - Emma Partridge - November 12, 2018Attorney-General Mark Speakman will today introduce new laws increasing the penalty for concealing child abuse from a maximum of two years in jail to five. If the cover-up was for any sort of benefit, the sentence will be as high as seven years in jail. It comes after more than 13,000 people, many of them child sex abuse survivors, signed a petition calling for the change...
'Really shocked': Playground surfaces can hit 90 degrees in summer
Sydney Morning Herald - Jordan Baker - November 11, 2018Astroturf can hit temperatures of almost 90 degrees Celsius during summer, while the soft fall rubber covering many children's playgrounds can reach more than 80 degrees, a study of Sydney childcare centre playgrounds has found. Plastic toys left in the sun can hit 76 degrees...
Think Childcare and G8 Education out of trough
Financial Review - Simon Evans - November 11, 2018Australia''s second-largest listed childcare operator has signalled it may have already passed a low point in an oversupplied market, with revenues rising in the last week of October and key metrics such as occupancy rates improving in the September quarter. Think Childcare chief executive...
Kindergarten children learn woodwork, DIY at Guardian Early Learning Centre's River garden
Herald Sun - Ashley Argoon - November 11, 2018KINDER kids are being taught the DIY skills of how to use a hammer, nails and sandpaper as they go back to basics to express creativity. And for many children aged three to five at the River Garden, a Guardian Early Learning Centre, it's the first time they've been introduced to tools...
Study confirms children attending childcare more psychologically robust
The Sector - Freya Lucas - November 9, 2018Children who attend a childcare environment staffed by professionals may have better psychological development than those children who are looked after by family and friends, or in other informal arrangements, a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health has found...
These small cap ASX shares are ending the week with strong gains
The Motley Fool - James Mickleboro - November 9, 2018The Think Childcare Ltd (ASX: TNK) share price is up 9.5% to $1.25 after the childcare centre operator released a market update this morning. According to the update, Think Childcare has agreed to acquire five childcare centres for a total purchase price of $7.7 million. These centres...
What happened to childcare bosses, 10 years since ABC Learning collapse
The Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - November 8, 2018TEN years after ABC Learning Centres' spectacular collapse and decimation of the sector, some controversial childcare players have still been working with the industry. One is Martin Kemp, a former executive director of failed giant ABC, which collapsed ten years ago this week. He is a director...
Cultural trail for young Australians
Mirage News - November 8, 2018Pre-schoolers in childcare at James Cook University's Townsville campus will get a new appreciation of Australia's plant life from today. Two new Indigenous Cultural plant trails have been launched next to JCU early childcare centres as part of the Connecting Kids to Country program...
If we're serious about supporting working families, here are three policies we need to enact now
The Conversation - Leah Ruppanner - November 7, 2018High childcare costs can cripple family budgets and force mothers to reduce work to avoid forking out expensive childcare costs. Research from the US has found that expensive childcare is a major reason why mothers do not start working again. Public childcare enrolment benefits working...
