Welcome,
Suddenly it's May and we're almost half way through the year! This week we look at the final part of our survey results and what they say about our understanding of the new National Quality Framework. And it's Mothers' Day soon and we have some gorgeous napkin sets from design team, Thea & Sami.

Have you rated your child care service yet? Help other parents by sharing your experiences.

There's a lot of scepticism and a marked lack of understanding of the new National Quality Framework. Why?

In our survey, almost half of parents said they didn't really know about the NQF, but when prompted, only 20% were able to agree with the main factors. This was particularly high in NT, ACT and QLD.

Is this apathy? Lack of information? Exhaustion or a mixture of all three?

A fifth of ACT respondents thought that the NQF would lead to a better standard in child care, compared to 14% of those in NSW.

Under 20% (average of 15%) said that they agreed with the new ratios of staff to children and slightly more (just over 20%) agreed with the need for more qualified staff, meaning that 80% of parents don't actually agree with the main criteria of the NQF.

Almost a fifth (18%) of those in NSW, VIC and TAS are worried about the cost implications of the NQF to their child care fees – only 12% of WA parents were worried (proving the wealth of WA perhaps).
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Thea & Sami is one of Australia's most creative fabric designers. Established in December 2006 by designer Thea Samios, the mother and daughter team designs beautiful, original, eco–friendly fabrics and homewares from their studio in Brisbane, Queensland.

Thea & Sami is an ethical creative studio, and uses only water–based and non–toxic inks. Made in Eastern Europe and hand-printed in Australia using water-based inks, they print exclusively onto linen, a sustainable material manufactured from the flax plant. The entire flax crop is used, so no waste is created during harvesting. Linen has natural antibacterial and antifungal properties and offers UV protection as well as having great absorption – so it's perfect for table and kitchen linen.

As well as a boutique range of homewares, Thea & Sami also make custom-made soft furnishings using their own fabrics and local resources. They manufacture in small batches using local and fair labour, so not only are their products ethical, but also not mass-produced.

This month we have five sets of Thea & Sami's beautiful 'Butterfly' napkins to give away. Designed by Thea Samios they feature a Monarch butterfly in the right bottom corner of each. Napkins are sold as a Set of 4 and gift-wrapped with cotton Baker's Twine. Each napkin measures 34 x 34 cm (13.3 square inches) and are machine washable RRP $35.00.

For more information visit Thea & Sami