Child Care News
Regional students able to study early childhood education
ABC News - October 28, 2013For the first time, the University of South Australia will offer a degree in early childhood education at its Mount Gambier and Whyalla campuses. The four-year degree, which prepares students for careers as preschool and kindergarten teachers, will be offered from next year. The degree...
Council childcare fees up to fund new Fitzroy centre
Herald Sun - Nic Price - October 28, 2013CHILDCARE users in Yarra will be hit with increased fees next year to pay for the council's new family and children's centre in Fitzroy. Long day care was due to cost $90 a day next year at the council's five centres, but that has been hiked to $95 after last week's unanimous council vote...
Parents protest day-care closures after consultant recommends closure of several Blacktown Council facilities
Daily Telegraph - Neil Keene - October 28, 2013HUNDREDS of Sydney families could lose childcare places under a council's proposal to demolish two of its centres and close at least three more. Blacktown Council will this week vote on whether to drastically scale back its involvement in childcare after an independent consultant...
Find out how to run a family day care businesses from home
Daily Telegraph - October 27, 2013To help meet the growing demand for quality childcare in the inner city, the City of Sydney is hosting free information sessions for residents interested in running family day care businesses from their own homes. Family day care is approved care for babies to school-age children in...
Children and preschools are set to struggle
Sydney Morning Herald - Lisa Bryant - October 27, 2013For a child who has only been cared for by mum or dad, starting at preschool is a big thing. No matter how welcoming the preschool is or their attempts to ensure each child is welcomed and valued, the struggle to fit in can be seen etched on almost every young face. New changes to the...
Child education expert Professor Carla Rinaldi warns apps can kill creativity
NEWS.com.au - October 25, 2013HOMEWORK overload and classroom rivalry are "ruining" Australian children, an international education leader warned yesterday. Professor Carla Rinaldi - president of the global Reggio Children movement, based in Italy - said children were relying too much on technological "apps"...
The childcare conundrum: who will pay?
The Drum - Norman Hermant - October 25, 2013Everyone agrees that wages for childcare workers need to rise, but the question then is who gets slugged with the bill, writes Norman Hermant. Think explaining politics in Russia is confusing? So did I, until I waded into the quagmire that is Australian childcare. Just back from a posting for the...
Early funding favours four-year-olds
Sydney Morning Herald - Anna Patty - October 25, 2013High demand for already stretched childcare services is expected to rise even further after the state government withdraws preschool subsidies for most three-year-olds. The government will phase out subsidies for all but the most disadvantaged three-year-olds in two years to boost the...
Anxious wait for parents amid NSW preschool funding delays
ABC News - Mhairi McClymont - October 23, 2013The New South Wales Education Minister has assured parents and preschools a new funding model will be released soon as uncertainty forces one local council to delay its enrolment process for next year. Under the new arrangements, funding will be prioritised for four and five-year-olds...
Melbourne has the highest inflation as rates, childcare and petrol costs rise
Herald Sun - Phillip Hudson - October 23, 2013MELBOURNE has the highest inflation rate in the nation with households paying sharply more for property rates, childcare, petrol and sewerage charges. The cost of living in Melbourne jumped by 1.4 per cent in the September quarter - the biggest quarterly increase since March 2011...
David O'Byrne enters stoush over eviction of Lady Gowrie childcare from Lindisfarne North Primary School
The Mercury - Helen Kempton - October 23, 2013AN appeal from the child care sector and Tasmanian parents for a government decision to be reversed has created a ministerial stoush in Hobart. United Voice, the union which represents the early years sector, and concerned parents met Member for Franklin and government minister...
Uniting Church to close four childcare centres in Gippsland
ABC News - October 23, 2013The Uniting Church is pulling out of four childcare centres in Gippsland, calling for a review of childcare funding. Childcare centres at Foster, Cowes, Lakes Entrance and Mirboo North will be closed unless another operator takes over. Together they employ 45 people and look after...
Childcare workers may not receive pay rise after Early Years Quality Fund (EYQF) put under review
ABC News - Norman Hermant - October 22, 2013Childcare workers may not receive a promised pay rise after news the Federal Government will review a dedicated fund to boost wages. Sussan Ley, the Assistant Minister for Education, has levelled her harshest criticism yet at the $300 million Early Years Quality Fund (EYQF), rolled out...
Childcare lobby targets O'Byrne in bid to keep Lindisfarne North service open
The Mercury - Helen Kempton - October 22, 2013PARENTS and child carers are rallying this morning in a bid to avert the closure of the Lady Gowrie Tasmania service at Lindisfarne North Primary School. United Voice secretary Helen Gibbons said the decision to end Lady Gowrie's lease at Lindisfarne early next year had made other families...
Child abuser Jonathan Lord lied to YMCA about his background, Royal Commission told
ABC News - Thomas Oriti - October 21, 2013The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard that the largest provider of out-of-school care in New South Wales did not properly investigate the background of an employee who is now serving a jail term for abusing 12 boys. The...
