Child Care News
Is 'Uber for babysitters' app Gobi the future of childcare or a step too far?
ABC News - Louise Merrillees - November 5, 2017It's billed as a cashless, fast and easy childcare solution and sounds like a godsend to busy parents juggling the demands of work and home life. But would you leave your children alone with someone you have met only hours earlier online? New babysitting app Gobi provides sitters...
Premier Jay Weatherill backs Reggio Emilia childcare philosophy for educating South Australian children
The Advertiser - Matt Smith - November 4, 2017A RADICAL approach to childcare that focuses attention on child development rather than child minding has been described by Premier Jay Weatherill as the Government's most important piece of public policy. Mr Weatherill wants to grow the Reggio Emilia philosophy that places a greater...
Drop in NSW preschool fees after reforms
News.com.au - November 4, 2017Community preschool fees in NSW have dropped by an average of 25 per cent, the state government says. The fall in fees, shown in the preliminary results of a survey of more than 730 preschools, comes after the introduction of reforms last year, Minister for Early Childhood Education...
Push to raise the kindergarten starting age
SkyNews.com.au - November 4, 2017The kindergarten starting age could be raised to meet a new national standard. State education ministers are reportedly pushing for the change to prevent large age gaps in the first year of school. Currently, four year olds share kindy classrooms with children as old as six, causing large...
Parents agonise over school testing before kids start kindergarten
Sydney Morning Herald - Alexandra Smith - November 4, 2017Parents are increasingly paying for their four-year-olds to be tutored to give them a head start and even prepare for a mandatory literacy and numeracy assessment in kindergarten, prompting fears that children face unnecessary pressure before they have entered the classroom...
This number could hold your kids back for the rest of their lives
Sydney Morning Herald - Harold Mitchell - November 3, 2017The latest research makes it clear that our most critical learning capacities develop before children even start school. If we don't get appropriate learning at that time, we are behind for the rest of our lives. Language is the foundation for almost everything, but many Australian children are not getting...
Children aged under five would get a free flu jab under a plan being pushed by state health ministers
Herald Sun - Sue Dunlevy - November 3, 2017If the vaccine is included in the national schedule, parents would need to have their children vaccinated against the flu to enrol in childcare and get family tax and childcare benefits. The Immunisation Coalition has been calling for a childhood flu vaccination program claiming children are super....
New tool to tackle childhood obesity
The University of Newcastle - November 2, 2017It is hoped the free menu planning tool for early childhood education and care providers will help to address current statistics that show, one in four children and almost two out of three adults within Australia are considered overweight or obese. According to international research, good eating habits...
ACTU demands low pay overhaul
The Australian - Ewin Hannan - November 2, 2017ACTU secretary Sally McManus will campaign for an overhaul of how the national minimum wage is calculated to combat a "cost-of-living crisis" for low-paid workers. In a speech tonight, Ms McManus will call for changes to minimum wage settings to ensure the commission gives greater...
Commercial auction flop highlights cooling market conditions
Financial Review - Larry Schlesinger - November 1, 2017The offering of 21 retail premises, childcare centres and offices generated total sales of less than $16 million, with just nine properties selling under the hammer at a Burgess Rawson portfolio auction. Eighteen months ago, the same portfolio auctions were generated clearance rates above 92...
Childcare Queensland: Outdated building regulations put children at risk
Courier Mail - Daryl Passmore - October 31, 2017OUTDATED building regulations and licensing loopholes are placing hundreds of youngsters at potential risk from fire at high-rise childcare centres. Concerns over the hazards of trying to evacuate babies and toddlers from multistorey buildings in an emergency were first raised...
Weinstein scandal throws up employer dilemma
My Business - Adam Zuchetti - October 31, 2017"For example childcare workers or people work with children and are accused of some child-related misconduct, they are immediately removed from the workplace – but still paid – because the argument is that the risk, if they are guilty, posed to the children far outweighs the problem...
Stricter psychological testing has found two SA Government carers unsuitable to work with children
The Advertiser - Lauren Novak - October 30, 2017TWO government carers have been found unsuitable to work with children after being subjected to stricter psychological testing, the state's child protection boss has revealed. They are the first of 350 existing staff to be picked up by a new system introduced in the wake of heinous...
CBRE auction clearance rate at 70pc
The Australian - Ben Wilmot - October 30, 2017Interest in the childcare sector was a theme with a Guardian Early Learning Group-leased asset at Point Cook selling to a Melbourne family for $6.56m on a yield of 5.9 per cent. Three bidders competed for the centre, which was underwritten by a 12-year lease. Other childcare assets...
Australian childcare fees are among the world's highest
Herald Sun - Lanai Scarr - October 28, 2017AUSTRALIAN parents are now being charged some of the highest fees in the world for childcare, raising cost of living pressure. A special investigation by News Corp Australia spanning several countries has uncovered the harsh financial reality Australian mums and dads face compared...
