Child Care News

Bosses fined for shortchanging staff by $120,000
Herald Sun - Jessica Marszalek - July 2, 2012

BOSSES of two childcare centres, a nursing home and a restaurant have been stung a combined $160,000 after they were caught underpaying Victorian workers by nearly $120,000. They have also been forced to pay back the missing wages. In one case, two Melbourne childcare centres...

Daycare turns into overnight minding
The Sunday Telegraph - Briana Domjen - July 1, 2012

FAMILY daycare centres are changing their hours and opening overnight and on weekends to accommodate the growing number of parents working non-traditional hours. The number of people working non-business hours is up 15 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows...

Woolworths will tomorrow expand its Earn and Learn program to include pre-schools, daycare centres and playgroups
The Sunday Telegraph - Brittany Stack - July 1, 2012

TODDLERS are the latest target in the bitter war between supermarket rivals Woolworths and Coles. Both chains have celebrity-endorsed schemes to fund resources and sports equipment for schools, but Woolworths will tomorrow expand its Earn and Learn program to include pre-schools...

Tech-y toddlers
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - July 1, 2012

PRESCHOOLS are joining the rush to bring iPads into their classrooms: attending workshops, applying for lucrative technology grants and even using the devices as a selling point for parents. Educators say the intuitive nature of the technology makes them easy for young...

Big banks face $100m action over ABC
Sydney Morning Herald - Michael West - June 29, 2012

As the childcare empire was cratering in 2008, the bankers to ABC Learning deftly snatched an "oral" charge over the company's assets, leapfrogging to the front of the creditors' queue and clawing back a cool $100 million or so before ABC bit the dust a few months later. Sadly for...

Waivers for struggling childcare centres
ABC News - June 28, 2012

The ACT Government has issued 16 waivers for Canberra childcare centres, that have struggled to meet new guidelines. The phase-in of the National Quality Framework began in January and includes new requirements for staff qualifications and ratios. Danielle Stiff from the Office for...

Brisbane childcare centres face possible closure after axe falls‎
Courier Mail - Amy Kelly - June 26, 2012

Fourteen limited hours child care centres are facing closure after a review by the State Government found funding the centres was unsustainable. The Community Place Limited Hours Child Care Centre in Wooloowin and Kitchener Rd Child Care at Ascot will both have their funding...

Baby boom squeezes schools
The West Australian - Bethany Hiatt and Yolanda Zaw - June 26, 2012

An explosion in the number of families with young children living in inner-city areas has sparked fears that already stretched schools and childcare facilities will struggle to cope with the looming influx. Latest census data shows the number of children aged under four has increased by...

Coalition to consider delaying new childcare standards
Financial Review - Emma Connors - June 23, 2012

A Coalition federal government would consider delaying new standards in childcare, arguing that affordable services are crucial both to working families and the economy. A week before the carbon tax begins, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott stepped up his call for a Productivity Commission…

Abbott gets new take on nannies
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - June 23, 2012

TONY Abbott has been urged to adopt similar nanny schemes to those in Britain and New Zealand to allow the government to subsidise in-home care. The Opposition Leader held a roundtable with childcare providers in Sydney yesterday and invited the newly incorporated Australian Nanny…

Big fines for childcare centres
The West Australian - Beatrice Thomas - June 23, 2012

Fifty WA childcare providers breached State regulations in the past year, with legal action or licence suspensions pursued against 11 services for problems including inadequate supervision and failing to report a child's hospital visit to authorities. Figures provided by the Department for…

Childcare better under coalition-Abbott
Sky News - June 22, 2012

Improved childcare facilities are essential to ensure Australia's future prosperity, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says. Speaking at a Sydney childcare centre where he'd played with children by imitating farmyard animals, Mr Abbott was not horsing around when he called for the sector...

Nit police sick of head hunting
Herald Sun- Susie O'Brien - June 21, 2012

PARENTS are sick of nit-picking, and want schools and childcare centres to go back to checking kids' heads for the pesky creepy-crawlies. Ninety-two per cent of parents want teachers to be allowed to look for nits on children's heads, according to a survey of more than 400...

Union urges government to fix childcare crisis
The Australian - June 18, 2012

THE childcare sector is urging the federal government to provide $1.4 billion every year to lift wages for its workers. Representatives from trade union United Voice will meet various ministers, Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt and Independent MP Tony Windsor this week to discuss...

Kids need more fish and fibre
Adelaide Now - Clare Peddie - June 17, 2012

CHILDREN under five are headed for a life of chronic disease because they are not eating enough fibre and omega-3 acids, Adelaide research shows. Dr Shao Zhou from the Women's and Children's Health Research Institute studied 300 Adelaide preschool children and found they were eating...