Child Care News
WA childcare group wins Defence Community Organisation contract
The West Australian - Jenne Brammer - August 14, 2018One Tree Community Services will deliver childcare and after-school hours care for up to 950 additional children, after being awarded a contract by the Defence Community Organisation. The Belmont-headquartered not-for-profit organisation will deliver the service from January...
Why more men should work in childcare
The Riot Act - Rachel Ziv - August 14, 2018But childcare and early childhood education is still overwhelmingly populated by women, with the latest ABS statistics showing that females account for over 95% of all childcare workers. That's surprising, given the increasing number of stay-at-home dads (bucking decades of...
$5.1 million funding for Royal Far West
The Western Advocate - Kim Chappell - August 13, 2018The NSW government has committed the grant to help the charity build a new state-of-the art health and learning facility, and in turn support thousands more vulnerable children and families across regional Australia. The construction of the new Centre for Child Health...
Field narrows for $700m Affinity Education sale
The Australian - Bridget Cacrter and Scott Murdoch - August 13, 2018The owners of Affinity Education, Anchorage Capital Partners, have narrowed down the buying field for its business to six parties. Still within the mix are one local and two offshore childcare providers, with the remainder being private equity. It is unclear whether the listed rival G8...
Canberra playschools saved with inclusion in subsidy scheme
Sydney Morning Herald - Elliot Williams - August 12, 2018Canberra playschools have been handed a lifeline after education minister Simon Birmingham approved an amendment that will allow them to administer the new child care subsidies introduced in July. The decision came after an appeal from the German Australian Playschool...
New Gold Coast childcare proposal takes farming out kids to a new level
Gold Coast Bulletin - Laura Nelson - August 12, 2018A SPRAWLING $5 million childcare centre on 2.5ha of farmland - stocked with farm animals and its own resident farmer - will change the face of childcare on the Gold Coast. The Montessori Farm Early Learning Centre, being built in Peanba Park Rd, Willow Vale, near Upper Coomera...
The women left out of the work debate
Sydney Morning Herald - Roqayah Chamseddine - August 11, 2018"The cost of child care, inflexible working hours, social stigma and employer discrimination all play a part in making it hard to find reliable work and make a decent living," says King. "If you can't get a decent job and you have sole responsibility for supporting a child, even affording the basics...
Commercial property boom spurred on by wave of family investors
News.com.au - Owen Roberts - August 11, 2018SYDNEY families are snapping up lucrative assets like fast food restaurants, childcare centres and petrol stations amid a commercial real estate boom. While the residential market has come off the boil, commercial real estate has skyrocketed, with a record $19 billion worth...
Winners and losers under the childcare payment changes
ABC The World Today - Julie Doyle - August 9, 2018More than a million families around the country are adjusting to the biggest change to childcare payments in years. The Federal Government introduced a new means-tested subsidy for families last month, which includes an activity test both parents have to meet before they qualify for support...
Child care providers and parents reporting teething problems with new subsidy system
ABC News - Julie Doyle - August 9, 2018Among the families struggling under the new system, 90,000 are on low incomes of less than $67,000 a year. Some of these families have had their access to child care halved. Many are worse off because they fail the new activity test, which requires both parents to be working...
Glitches with new childcare system are costing parents thousands
Kidspot - Chris Chang - August 8, 2018Parents can only get a subsidy for up to 100 hours of care per fortnight but are going over this because their centres open for longer than 10 hours a day. The subsidy is worked out according to how long the centre is open each day, not how many hours the child attends. Mr Birmingham said....
Folkestone Education Trust warns of childcare headwinds
The Australian - Elizabeth Redman - August 8, 2018Folkestone Education Trust has issued another warning that the rising cost of living could force parents to pull their children out of childcare and put pressure on pricing in the sector. The caution came as the trust (FET), which owns and develops early learning centres in Australia...
Folkestone Education Trust flags 6pc dividend lift from childcare portfolio
Financial Review - Nick Lenaghan - August 8, 2018Childcare centre owner Folkestone Education Trust expects to lift distributions by 6 per cent over the coming year as it rides through a period of change in the early learning sector. The $680 million listed property trust, part of the Folkestone stable of property funds, posted a 10.8...
Chris Scott returns with tilt at Evolve Education
The Australian - Lisa Allen & Ben Wilmot - August 8, 2018Queensland childcare tycoon Chris Scott has bought a major stake in struggling dual-listed childcare operator Evolve Education in a bid to grab hold of the Auckland-based group. The re-emergence of the entrepreneur is likely to set the troubled group's shares running as the...
Glitches with new childcare system leave parents out-of-pocket
News.com.au - Charis Chang - August 7, 2018THE Federal Government appears to be in damage control as issues continue to plague its new childcare system. The Turnbull Government's new system was supposed to benefit up to one million families but it seems many parents are struggling to get the extra money thanks to glitches...
