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The 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards National Finalists have been announced.
What began with over 4,200 nominations is now down to 12 National Finalists who are in the running to be named as a National Winner at the Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner!
To find out who our 2026 National Finalists are, click here.
Join the Celebration in Brisbane
If you want to be there when the 2026 National Winners are announced, tickets to the 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner are on sale now. It’s sure to be a night full of fun and excitement.
Your Gala Dinner ticket includes:
To secure your discounted FDCA member ticket, click here.
Discounted tickets are available if you would like to purchase a table for a group of 8, 9 or 10. For more information about table purchasing a table, please email marketing@fdca.com.au.
Caring for others should not require giving every part of yourself. In family day care, work and home often share the same space, which can make it difficult to know where the working day finishes and personal time begins. The desire to support children and families can lead to work creeping into your own time such as replying to messages after hours or squeezing in extra tasks.
A boundary is not a sign that you care less. It is a way of protecting the time and energy that help you stay present, effective and connected. Boundaries can be small and practical: pausing before an automatic ‘yes’, setting a time for messages, clarifying what is urgent, or asking for a conversation about workload. Clear, realistic boundaries can help protect your time and energy, reduce the risk of burnout and support you to remain present in your work.
A moment to reflect:
Be You’s micro learning introduces strategies educators can use to protect their time and energy and reduce the risk of burnout. Please note that a free Be You account is required to access this resource.
Explore the Be You micro learning: The importance of educator boundaries
Want to go further or prefer to listen and reflect: Watch Empowered Boundaries for Educators.
The Australian Government Department of Education’s 2026 Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Communication Survey is now open.
The Department is seeking feedback from people working across the sector, including family day care educators and services, about its communication channels and resources. These include:
The anonymous survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and can be accessed using a computer, tablet or mobile phone.
Whether you use these resources regularly or only occasionally, your feedback can help the Department understand what is working well and where their communication could be improved.
You are also encouraged to share the survey with colleagues working in the sector.
Click here to complete the 2026 ECEC Communication Survey.
Family day care educators spend so much of each day noticing and responding to the needs of children and families. Coordinators and service teams also spend considerable time supporting others. The mental health and wellbeing of everyone in these roles is equally important and deserves attention.
Wellbeing is influenced by more than how an individual manages stress. Work demands, professional relationships, feeling valued and access to support can all affect how we feel and function. Talking regularly about mental health helps normalise these conversations as part of everyday practice, making it easier to have those conversations when concerns arise.
A moment to reflect:
Be You’s fact sheet explores how work-related factors can shape wellbeing and offers practical suggestions for self-care and building supportive, inclusive connections with others.
Explore the Be You fact sheet: Wellbeing for educators.
Want to go further? For a service-level conversation, explore Beyond Self-Care: An Educator Wellbeing Guide.
ACECQA has released new guidance to help approved providers, service leaders and educators strengthen the supervision of children in education and care.
The guidance explains that adequate supervision is active, dynamic and responsive. Meeting educator-to-child ratio requirements alone does not necessarily mean children are being adequately supervised.
The resource includes considerations specifically relevant to family day care, such as:
Services can use the guidance to review their policies, risk assessments and support arrangements. Coordinators may also find it useful when discussing supervision practices with educators during visits and regular check-ins.
Educators can use the practical and reflective questions to consider how supervision is maintained across different routines, environments and situations throughout the day.
To find out more, explore ACECQA’s Adequate Supervision for Children’s Safety guidance and resources.
The Australian Government Department of Education offers a range of self-paced courses through its online learning platform, Geccko. Geccko is tailored to the ECEC sector. Among the available courses is ‘Session Reports’.
This course has information about your obligations to accurately record and report sessions of care.
In the course, participants will learn how to:
All Geccko courses are self-paced and are accessible via tablet, computer, laptop or mobile phone. On completion, you can download a certificate for your professional development records.
To access this course or to find out more about other free online courses provided by Geccko, you can register here.
Family day care services and educators are encouraged to get involved in the Aussie Bird Count, one of Australia’s largest citizen science events, held annually during National Bird Week.
The Aussie Bird Count is a great opportunity to engage children in outdoor learning while encouraging curiosity, observation skills and an appreciation for the natural environment. Services can share the activity and supporting resources with educators, while educators can incorporate the Count into their educational program.
Taking part is easy. Simply spend 20 minutes in your backyard, garden or another outdoor space observing and counting the birds you see. Educators can use the Aussie Bird Count app or online form to record their observations, with a bird finder tool available to help identify unfamiliar birds.
Children can take part by:
The experience can support early learning in numeracy, science, language and environmental awareness while encouraging children’s curiosity and connection with nature.
Educators can complete as many 20-minute counts as they like during the week. Every submission helps BirdLife Australia build a national snapshot of the birds living in Australian communities.
For more information, resources and instructions on submitting a count, visit the Aussie Bird Count website.
Thank you to everyone who submitted to be the next Scholastic Storytime JiGSAW Book Reviewer. The selected Educator has been emailed with the set of books now on their way to their new home. We look forward to reading your reviews in the upcoming edition.
After an overwhelming response to last week's call out we have created a database with the names of everyone who emailed. You will be contacted for participation in future editions of JiGSAW Magazine.
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