Child Care News
ACT childcare fees highest in country
The Canberra Times - Belinda Merhab, Catherine Best - June 4, 2012Canberra has the most expensive childcare in the country, the childcare workers' union United Voice says. Issuing its 2011-12 childcare fees report yesterday, the union said fees had increased 11 per cent in the past year, leaping to more than $70 a day. The report showed that in...
Kids robbed of playtime in pursuit of academic excellence
The Sunday Telegraph - Jane Hansen - June 3, 2012FEARFUL parents are unnecessarily sending pre-schoolers to early learning classes to give them an academic edge. That's the warning from educators who say an atmosphere of parental panic has arisen about the expectations on kindergarten and pre-school children since the introduction of...
Parents pay for childcare on credit
The Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - June 3, 2012SYDNEY parents are using credit cards to cover the rising cost of childcare, with the city's soaring prices the most expensive in the country. Daily fees in Sydney's CBD are now $113 on average - more than $22 higher than the national capital city average of $90.97- according to a new report...
Childcare fees soar but staff move on
Herald Sun - Samantha Maiden - June 3, 2012CHILDCARE fees have skyrocketed 13 per cent in one year, threatening to make the vital service a luxury available only to the rich. A national survey of price hikes by the childcare workers' union United Voice has revealed that Victoria is the second worst state in the country for childcare…
Soaring childcare costs hit budgets, with Brisbane parents paying $84 a day for care of a single child
The Sunday Mail - Samantha Maiden - June 3, 2012CHILDCARE costs are skyrocketing, with new data showing fees have risen more than 11 per cent across Australia in the past year. A national survey by the childcare workers' union United Voice has revealed the hike, which compares with an increase of 3.9 per cent the previous year...
Call to delay kinder changes rejected
The Age - Rachel Wells - June 2, 2012CALLS for the federal government to extend the June 2013 deadline for when Victorian kindergartens must provide 15-hour programs for four-year-olds appear to have fallen on deaf ears. Representatives from Kindergarten Parents Victoria met with School Education Minister Peter Garrett and and Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare Kate Ellis...
Childcare: One in four providers 'make loss'
BBC News (UK) - ‎Jun 1, 2012‎Almost a quarter of childcare providers are making a loss despite fees in England being among the highest in the world, a report has suggested. In the poorest areas the proportion making a loss stands at 31%, according to a government survey. The report also suggests 60% of child minders...
Childcare centres to get funds boost
Canberra Times - Lisa Cox - May 31, 2012The ACT government will boost its budget for childcare services by $3.5 million in the next financial year to upgrade childcare centres and help the sector meet national regulations introduced by the federal government. The figure is in addition to last year''s injection of $60 million over...
Childcare centres ready for fire hazards
Canberra Times - Christopher Knaus - May 31, 2012Childcare providers assure parents that Canberra centres are safe from the kind of inferno that killed 13 children, including three New Zealand triplets, in a Qatari creche this week. The blaze broke out in a shopping mall in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Monday, killing 19 people...
Daycare 'swap' OK for rebates
Sydney Morning Herald - May 30, 2012Family daycare operators who send their children to another creche could still claim the childcare rebate if they're eligible, a senate committee has heard. Nationals senator Fiona Nash said she had heard about day carers who sent their own children to another family day carer and then...
Smacking mum can work in childcare: court
News.com.au - May 30, 2012A MOTHER who used an electrical cord to hit her eight-year-old twins when they refused to do the dishes has been given permission to continue working in the childcare industry. In a written judgment published today, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal returned a blue card...
Government's threat to childcare centres over fees
The Sunday Telegraph - Caroline Marcus - May 27, 2012THE federal government warned it would publicly name childcare centres using reforms as an excuse to jack up prices after one centre tried to gouge parents an extra $46 a day. As Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week commissioned work on ways to help struggling families by capping...
Threat to Victorian kindergartens
Sunday Herald Sun - Robyn Riley - May 27, 2012A VICTORIAN preschool was forced to close its popular three-year-old kindergarten because the Federal Government did not fully consider the consequences of its new childcare standards, management claims. Templeton Orchards Preschool in Wantirna says its three-year-old kinder...
Children to be given a taste of danger at new childcare centre
The Courier-Mail - Tanya Chilcott - May 26, 2012CHILDREN would be given trees to climb in, a creek to explore and material to build cubby houses under proposals for a new childcare centre and kindergarten which aims to buck the trend of wrapping them in cotton wool. The proposal by C&K, which runs a string of childcare centres...
New name plan for pre-primary
The West Australian - Bethany Hiatt - May 25, 2012WA's pre-primary school year would be renamed "foundation" from next year under a plan to bring all States into line. The Australian Government Primary Principals Association is pushing for all schools to use the same title for the year of schooling before Year 1 and it wants all States...
