Child Care News
More children set to fail at school unless they are better prepared at a younger age, charity says
ABC News - Rebecca Barrett - October 23,2014A leading charity has warned that increasing numbers of children are set to fail at school unless more is done to prepare them in the years before they reach school age. The Benevolent Society is running a program in early childhood centres in New South Wales and South Australia to try to...
$5m childcare fraud used 'phantom' kids
The Australian - Natasha Bita - October 23, 2014CHEATING childcare providers have been fined $2.5 million and forced to hand back $5m in taxpayer funds after claiming government rebates for "phantom" children. The federal Education Department's "kindergarten cops" had taken action against 40 childcare services in the past year...
G8 Education 'knocking on the door of ASX100'
Financial Review - Jessica Gardner - October 23, 2014G8 Education chairman Jenny Hutson says the childcare operator’s latest $100 million capital raising, its first underwritten offer, reflects its evolution to a large company with global standing. In the early days of its aggressive acquisition strategy, the Gold Coast-based company raised...
Greens move to outlaw childcare centres in clubs
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - October 23, 2014Federal Parliament would ban child care centres from pokies clubs in Australia, under a new amendment to be announced by the Greens on Thursday. Clubs Australia is pushing for licensed clubs to be able to open child care centres, under a proposal currently before the Productivity...
No preschool pay deal without money state government money
The Age - Benjamin Preiss - October 22, 2014A pay offer giving all preschool teachers immediate parity with their primary school counterparts cannot proceed unless the government contributes more funding, according to a group that represents kindergartens. An estimated 1000 preschool staff joined a strike on Wednesday after...
Annual inflation rate dips to 2.3 per cent as power prices fall
The Australian - Adam Creighton - October 22, 2014The biggest rises over the quarter were fruit (up 14.7 per cent), property rates and charges (up 6.3 per cent), and child care which rose 3.1 per cent. Tobacco prices rose 2.3 per cent owing to a scheduled increase in excise. The Reserve Bank pays more attention to the "underlying"...
£66,000 for every mum lured back into work: Huge cost of childcare subsidy
Daily Mail (UK) - Steve Doughty - Ocotber 22, 2014A childcare subsidy aimed at persuading mothers of young children to return to work has cost taxpayers an astonishing £66,000 for every woman who has taken a job, a study revealed yesterday. It said the price of extra free nursery places for three-year-olds under the part-time...
Teacher strikes to close 50 kindergartens across Victoria
Herald Sun - Wes Hosking - October 22, 2014AT least 50 kindergartens will close on Wednesday as teachers campaigning for better pay and conditions walk off the job. Around 400 more will be affected, with many offering limited classes. It comes as kindergarten teachers ramp up a push for pay parity with their primary school...
G8 Education to buy 20 childcare centres
The Australian - Michael Roddan - October 22, 2014Queensland childcare operator G8 Education is set to acquire 20 childcare and education centres for a purchase price of $37 million. The acquisition will be funded by an equity raising of approximately $100m. G8 shares were placed in a trading halt this morning pending the announcement of the...
Need childcare? There's an app for that
Canberra Times - Gayle Bryant - October 22, 2014A new app is letting parents notify their childcare centre if their child is going to be absent, while allowing other parents, who need a last-minute spot, to see when one becomes available and book it – all without needing to communicate with the centre. Trying to establish whether a childcare...
Foreign teachers on 457 visas worsen graduate glut
Sydney Morning Herald - Heath Aston - October 21, 2014Foreign nationals on 457 visas are working in schools and early childhood centres despite a growing glut of unemployed Australian teaching graduates. A leaked audit of the 457 scheme by the Fair Work Ombudsman, obtained by Fairfax Media, suggests that up to 3600 people are working as...
1100 preschools want to try languages
7News - October 20, 2014All hands are up at preschools wanting to try a new program to teach young children foreign languages. More than 1100 preschools applied for 40 places in the Early Learning Languages Australia trial in 2015 - that's about one in seven services. "It's certainly set tongues wagging,"...
10 ways philanthropists are changing the world
The Guardian (UK) - Rachel Wharton - October 20, 2014Adopt different funding models. In 2008, Australia's largest provider of childcare went into administration. Nearly 700 childcare centres were at risk. So four organisations formed the social enterprise Goodstart Consortium, which secured a range of funding sources, from bank debt and...
Child care not as easy as ABC
Sydney Morning Herald - Colin Kruger - October 20, 2014Getting Think Childcare to the IPO starting blocks has not been as easy as ABC it seems. The latest child care player to seek public listing had to lodge a replacement prospectus ahead of this week's float adding "additional disclosures" on related party transactions, as well as other minor details...
Thousands of Aussie middle-income families may be hit with rise in childcare costs
NEWS.com.au - October 19, 2014CHILDCARE would become significantly more expensive for thousands of middle-income families under a proposed overhaul of the early childcare education sector. New modelling, obtained by News Corp from advocacy group The Parenthood, reveals the extent of the hip-pocket sting...
