Child Care News

Huge demand for childcare as baby boom hits ACT
Canberra Times - Julieanne Strachan - April 6, 2014

THE pitter-patter of tiny feet around Canberra is turning into a dull roar, with 2013 delivering a record number of babies. The boom is prompting calls for different funding models for childcare places to look after all the new arrivals. Already overloaded waiting lists for baby rooms in...

Have your cake, but don't eat it: The 'cake-free birthday cake'
Sunday Telegraph - Lisa Mayoh - April 6, 2014

FIRST went the candles, now goes the cake. Introducing the cake-free birthday cake - the wooden faux cake taking childcare nut-egg-dairy-gluten and taste-free celebrations to the next level of safety. The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that some NSW centres now use toy cakes to avoid...

Refugees embrace new children's services training to emerge as qualified childcare workers
ABC News - Courtney Wilson - April 5, 2014

Refugees who come to Australia often remain isolated in their communities, but a new day care organisation south-west of Brisbane is helping to bridge that gap by training migrants to become qualified childcare workers. As well as providing home-based childcare, Kids First Family Day...

Unions' childcare bid at odds with Labor
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 1, 2014

THE trade union movement has broken ranks with Bill Shorten's Labor opposition and is pushing the Productivity Commission to means-test the childcare rebate, arguing that the money given to high-income families above $150,000 a year should be re-­directed to poorer families. The rebate is...

Yields sharpen on childcare centres
Financial Review - Michael Bleby - April 3, 2014

Childcare centres led strong demand for retail property in auctions on Wednesday, with bids for two sites in Melbourne's growing suburban fringes pushing down yields and showing that private investors have shrugged off any wariness resulting from the collapse over 5 years ago of ABC...

Iconic building future face of childcare centre
Financial Review - Mercedes Ruehl - April 3, 2014

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade has sold an iconic two-level building in Melbourne for $2.5 million. The developer that picked up the property plans to use the site for a childcare centre. Corner property 16 Bulla Road in Essendon is a heritage-listed red brick building with an area of 423 square...

Parents the losers as costs of childcare surge
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 1, 2014

PARENTS' out-of-pocket costs have risen faster than long-day childcare costs because of in­adequate government assistance, the Senate has been told. The nation's biggest childcare provider says that since the previous Labor government capped the childcare rebate in 2011 at $7500 per...

Should a nanny be tax deductible?
Sydney Morning Herald - Anneli Knight - April 1, 2014

It's a scandal some mums earn just $20 a week after paying for childcare. Something needs to change. Sasha Fegan, mother to a seven-month old and two-year-old, is keen to return to her job as a radio producer when her 12 months of maternity leave ends. She is passionate about her...

Tutoring preschool children growing in popularity
The Age - Konrad Marshall - April 1, 2014

This is tutoring for tots - or prepping for prep - in which preschool-age children learn everything from basic literacy and numeracy to how to hold a pencil. In the tutoring industry, "school readiness" programs such as these are emerging fast, spurred by parental anxiety and a...

Call for bank to finance social causes
Financial Review - Sally Rose - April 1, 2014

It urges the government to consider new ways to promote social investment in Australia, including asking the big four banks to kick in funding to open a special bank for the community sector. SVA is the group behind the successful reinvention of embattled childcare company ABC Learning as not...

Arena extends and splits loan, cuts cost
Financial Review - Robert Hartley - April 1, 2014

Arena REIT, the $245 million listed group with a portfolio of childcare and medical centres, has renegotiated its debt to cut the cost and increase the term. The term of the existing facility has been extended beyond June 2016 with part to expire in June 2017 and part in June 2019...

Childcare funding needs major overhaul, say researchers
Sydney Morning Herald - Matt Wade - March 31, 2014

Complex childcare subsidies worth billions should be streamlined and a long-term plan developed to give preschoolers universal access to high-quality childcare, a leading childcare expert says. Professor Deborah Brennan, from the University of NSW's Social Policy Research Centre, has...

States concerned preschool funding is at risk from July
Sydney Morning Herald - Gareth Hutchens, Henrietta Cook - March 31, 2014

The NSW and Victorian governments have written to the federal government seeking assurance that funding for early childhood education will continue beyond this year. Adrian Piccoli, the NSW Education Minister, and Victorian Premier Denis Napthine want to know if the Commonwealth will...

Country Road, G8 set pace
The West Australian - Sean Smith - March 31, 2014

Tightly controlled specialty retailer Country Road and fast-expanding childcare group G8 Education are set to take opening honours for 2014 as the stock- market's best performers. With just one day of the March quarter left, G8 is atop the S&P-ASX200 with a near 60 per cent rise since...

Chris Scott and his secret $170m G8 network
Financial Review - John Stensholt and Jessica Gardner - March 29, 2014

The managing director of Australia's largest for-profit childcare company, which looks after almost 30,000 children, appears to be at the centre of a network of investments worth almost $170 million, making him the biggest childcare entrepreneur since ABC Learning's Eddie Groves. An AFR...