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Time is running out for you to submit an abstract for the FDCA 2025 National Conference!
This is a rare opportunity to join some of Australia's leading minds in the early childhood education and care industry and share your knowledge, expertise and insights at the premier event on the family day care calendar.
If you're lucky enough to be selected, not only will you join an all-star cast, but you will also receive a free ticket to the conference, it's a win-win!
Don't miss out on this opportunity, to find out more and submit your abstract, click here.
The Australian Government released the First Action Plan 2024-2027 and the Outcomes Framework on 20 December 2024, as part of the Early Years Strategy 2024-2034.
The Early Years Strategy, launched in May 2024, outlines a 10-year vision to ensure all children in Australia thrive during their early years. It focuses on four key priority areas:
The First Action Plan details the practical steps the Government is taking to support children and families, aligning with the strategy’s priorities and principles. Meanwhile, the Outcomes Framework will measure progress against eight defined outcomes and allow the Government to monitor child and family wellbeing over the next decade.
These initiatives were developed through extensive consultation with children, families, early childhood providers, educators, academics, and peak organisations.
Visit the Department of Social Services (DSS) website to access the Early Years Strategy First Action Plan and Outcomes Framework.
With 2025 up and running we want to help you kick-start the new year!
Over the coming weeks we will be showcasing exclusive member-only resources that can support you in achieving your professional goals for 2025!
In today’s edition of FDCM we’re focusing on generating leads for your family day care with the Family Day Care Locator.
In 2024 the FDCA Family Day Care Locator generated over 19,000 care enquiries for FDCA members, highlighting the important role the Locator can play in supporting the growth of your businesses. This is why we provide all FDCA members with a FREE Locator listing that allows them to promote and showcase their business.
We recommend making sure that your Locator listing is always fresh and up to date so that your family day care business stands out from the crowd and delivers more enquiries to you! To view a short video on how to manage and update your Locator listing, click here.
Did you know that you can also choose to take your Locator listing to the next level with a range of packages to upgrade your listing and push it to the top of the search results in your area.
If you're interested in upgrading your Locator listing for less than $1.85 per week, click here to find out more.
As the bushfire season intensifies across parts of Victoria and beyond, it is a timely reminder to ensure family day care services and educators revisit their emergency preparedness. Natural disasters like bushfires, floods, and storms can strike with little warning, but careful preparation and robust planning can help minimise risks and facilitate recovery.
Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, an approved provider must:
For family day care services, the principal office and each family day care residence must consider and plan for the individual nature of their premises. For the purposes of preparing the emergency and evacuation procedures, the approved provider must ensure that a risk assessment is conducted to identify potential emergencies that are relevant to the service (regulation 97).
For more detailed guidance, refer to ACECQA’s information sheet on Emergency and Evacuation Policy Guidelines.
It’s also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the support offered by the Australian Department of Education to services and families in the event of a CCS period of emergency being declared and to ensure that the contact details for your service are correct through the Provider Entry Point or their Third party Software.
We also encourage you to check your state and territory regulatory authority websites for information, templates and other resources that may have been designed to help services enhance their preparedness.
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has released the 2023/2024 Annual Performance Report on the National Quality Framework (NQF) this week.
The report examines a number of areas of the NQF, including:
The report highlights that, as at 30 June 2024, 90% of children’s education and care services that have been assessed are rated Meeting National Quality Standard (NQS) or above.
ACECQA CEO Gabrielle Sinclair said that, “This achievement is particularly impressive because of the high quality bar the NQS sets and the significant growth in the education and care sector in the past few years. It reflects the consistent efforts and commitment of service providers, teachers, educators and service staff to continually improve their programs and practice for the benefit of children and families.”
To view the report, visit the ACECQA website.
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