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With our 2021 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner mere days away, we encourage you to visit our Facebook page and share in the journeys of our National Finalists as we recognise their incredible achievements and celebrate the strength and successes of the sector.
Our 2021 Gala Dinner will be held this Saturday 26 February 2022 in Canberra. Tune into the live stream on our Facebook page on Saturday night to take part in the action and watch in real time as our 2021 National Winners are announced.
With the 10th anniversary of our Awards coming to a close, we’d like to congratulate all of our winners and finalists and extend our thanks to everyone that has participated to make this one of our biggest Award seasons yet!
Bush kindy and nature play are increasingly popular amongst early childhood education and care services, with many family day care educators and providers seeking to incorporate these themes into their programming and planning.
Whether nature play is established as a series of regular outings, one-off excursions or as an everyday part of your curriculum, there are several regulatory requirements governing education and care delivered outside of the family day care home.
Make sure you don't miss ACECQA’s In-Nature Play factsheet, a concise and easy to understand overview of the relevant regulatory and operational considerations for educators and services who might be looking to establish, or are currently running, nature play programs.
To access the factsheet, click here.
With the new year underway and new enrolments starting family day care, now is the perfect time to make use of FDCA’s E-Book resource!
Inspired by our members and their families, the E-Book narrates a child’s first day of family day care.
The E-Book is designed to support the transition of children into care and showcase the natural approach to play and discovery that family day care nurtures.
FDCA members will be able to access, create and download as many versions of the E-Book as they would like, free of charge from any desktop device*
Members will also be able to customise the names of the E-Book’s main characters, including the main child, the parent, the educator and the name of the family day care, to make the story personal to your children.
This level of customisation means that you can create a new E-Book for each child in your care, or create an E-Book for new children arriving in your care to share with their family!
Alongside the ability to choose the character names, the use of well-known Australian native animals in the illustrations will allow a wide range of readers to “step into the shoes” of their character and follow along with the adventure!
How to use the E-Book
“My Family” Day Care is available to access through your FDCA Member Zone, under the subheading E-Book.
To customise and download your very own copy of “My Family” Day Care, refer to our “How to” video here.
From 7 March 2022, families with more than one child aged 5 or under in care will get a higher Child Care Subsidy (CCS) rate for their second child and younger children.
Families may be eligible if they:
Service providers will not need to do anything to help families get the higher rate, but the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) encourages all providers to support families in understanding the changes
Further information on the CCS increase is available on DESE’s website here: https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-CCS
You can also download posters and factsheets communicating the changes here:
Keep an eye out over the coming weeks for the launch of our brand-new professional learning and development initiative.
This will include a significantly enhanced portfolio of professional development courses and content, available exclusively to FDCA members, supporting you even further to deliver quality outcomes and make the most of your family day care business.
Access will be included as part of your membership, through the FDCA Member Zone.
What if I haven't activated my FDCA Member Zone?
To activate your FDCA Member Zone, follow these five simple steps:
1. Click here to activate your free account (for the best experience, use the latest Chrome browser)
2. Enter your registered email address (this is the same email address that Family Day Care Matters is sent to)
3. An email will then be sent to your email address; click on the 'create password' button
4. Create and confirm your password
5. Click here to log in and enter your FDCA Member Zone.
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