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Yesterday, Family Day Care Australia announced the 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Regional Educator Winners!
Congratulations to the 71 outstanding educators recognised across Australia for their dedication to providing high-quality early childhood education and care and for the positive difference they make in the lives of children, families and their communities.
You can view the full list of 2026 Regional Educator Award Winners by clicking here.
Each Regional Educator Winner now progresses to the next stage of the Awards, with four National Educator Finalists to be selected and announced on 20 October 2026.
Join us in congratulating this year’s Regional Educator Winners by visiting our Facebook page, where we’ll be celebrating our winners and sharing Awards announcements and coverage over the coming weeks.
The 2026 Awards will culminate in Brisbane on 28 November, when our National Award Winners will be revealed at the 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner.
Gala Dinner tickets will be on sale to all members from Tuesday 6 October, so keep an eye on your inbox and FDCA’s social media channels for details about how you can join us in Brisbane for this special celebration.
As the warmer months approach, now is a good time to prepare for risks associated with extreme heat, bushfires, floods, severe storms, cyclones and other emergencies.
Taking practical steps now can help protect children, families, educators and service staff if an emergency occurs.
Review Your Emergency Plans and Risk Management Plans
Services and educators should work together to:
Prepare the Family Day Care Environment
Educators should check outdoor areas, shade structures, play equipment, trees and surrounding areas for potential hazards that may become more significant during extreme weather. Hot-weather planning should also consider children’s access to drinking water and shade, suitable clothing, the timing and type of outdoor activities, and opportunities for children to cool down.
Include Children in Emergency Preparedness
Talk with children about emergencies in ways that are age-appropriate, reassuring and empowering. Children can be supported to understand what may happen, what they can do to stay safe and who they can ask for help.
Birdie's Tree provides information and resources to support young children, families and educators before, during and after natural disasters and other disruptive events.
Understand CCS Support During a Period of Emergency
The Australian Government may declare a CCS period of emergency when a significant event affects a widespread area and prevents children from attending care or makes attendance unsafe.
The Department of Education publishes the affected locations and dates on their website and notifies providers and services when a declaration applies. Services should ensure their contact details in the CCS System are current so they receive these notifications.
A local emergency does not automatically mean that CCS emergency measures apply. The location must be included in a Departmental declaration.
Emergency absences also may not be applied automatically for family day care educators or services. Where a CCS period of emergency has been declared, FDC services may need to submit an application for period of emergency support.
If support is requested for multiple educators or children, the Department also requires the relevant information to be provided using its supporting spreadsheet.
Services can find further information about CCS support during an emergency. Information for families is available from Services Australia website.
Preparation Starts Now
Taking the time to review plans, prepare environments and discuss emergency arrangements with educators, staff, children and families can help everyone respond confidently when extreme weather or a natural disaster occurs.
Regulation 97 - Emergency and evacuation procedures - is a common area of non-compliance in family day care services. The regulation requires emergency and evacuation procedures to be rehearsed at least once every three months by each family day care educator with the children being educated and cared for by the educator on that day.
While approved providers are responsible for ensuring the required emergency and evacuation procedures are in place, educators play an important role in ensuring rehearsals are completed within the required timeframe and appropriately documented.
Key points to remember
Educators should work closely with their approved provider to ensure emergency and evacuation procedures are rehearsed within the required timeframe and each rehearsal is documented. Approved providers should have systems in place to monitor rehearsal dates and ensure the required three-month interval is not exceeded.
Additional Resources
ACECQA has released a free Inclusion Ready Toolkit to help early childhood education and care services create environments where every child and family feels welcome, can participate and has a sense of belonging.
The toolkit can help family day care services and educators understand what quality inclusive practice looks like, reflect on what they are already doing well and identify practical opportunities for improvement.
Resources include:
Educators can use the resources to reflect on their everyday practices and build their knowledge and confidence. Services can use them to support discussions with educators, identify shared priorities and inform Quality Improvement Plans and Strategic Inclusion Plans.
The toolkit supports existing obligations under the National Quality Framework and does not introduce additional requirements. Services and educators can choose the resources that best suit their needs and work through them over time.
Explore the Inclusion Ready Toolkit on the ACECQA website.
The Australian Government Department of Education has released its Child Care Subsidy data report for the June quarter 2026.
The report shows that 15,438 approved child care services operated during that quarter, including:
Nationally, 989,100 families used approved care. Of these:
A total of 1,393,620 children attended approved childcare. Of these:
The average hourly fee charged across all approved care services (excluding in-home care) was $13.90, with the average hourly fee for family day care sitting at $13.95. This compares to an average hourly fee of $14.60 for CBDC services and $10.05 for OSHC services.
In the June 2026 quarter, 54.8% of family day care services charged above the hourly fee cap of $13.56. This compared to 43.3% of CBDC services charging above the cap of $14.63, and 18.4% of OSHC services charging above the hourly fee cap of $12.81.
To view the full report, visit the Australian Government Department of Education website.
Please note: As families and children may use more than one service or services in more than one state or territory, and due to rounding, the sum of the component parts may not equal the total.
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