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This coming Monday 4th May marks the beginning of National Family Day Care Week!
National Family Day Care Week from 4-10 May, is about recognising and promoting the important role family day care educators and services play in the development and wellbeing of more than 68,500 children across Australia.
During the week we’re asking all of our members to share their celebrations on social media using the official hashtag, #fdcweek26. This helps raise the profile of family day care and showcase its unique strengths that support families’ diverse needs and make it a valued choice for Australian families.
The annual celebration generates nationwide media, highlighting the many unique benefits of family day care and positioning our sector as a high quality, flexible early childhood education and care option for Australian families.
For programming ideas during National Family Day Care Week visit the FDCA website here. A range of resources are also available to download from the FDCA website, by clicking here.
If you’re a Canva user, you can download new customisable National Family Day Care Week templates that you can use on social media. To access these templates, click on the links below:
By using the Canva templates and official hashtag, #fdcweek26, on social media you’ll also be helping us raise the profile of National Family Day Care Week and family day care.
In celebration of National Simultaneous Storytime, taking place on Wednesday 27th May, 2026, we are giving away five copies of the selected story ‘Luna Roo the Kangaroo Baller’.
Luna Roo is a story about rising to a challenge with heart and grit, “Navigating nerves, tricky opponents, and unexpected hurdles reflects the kind of determination kids face every day. It is a powerful celebration of courage, self-belief, and pushing through when things get tough.” said Kellie John, a member of the selection panel.
If you would like to go in the draw to win one of the copies, please send an artwork, by the children in your family day care, of an animal to marketing@fdca.com.au.
To find out more about National Simultaneous Storytime, please click here.
28 April marked the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, highlighting the importance of creating safe and healthy workplaces across all industries.
In early childhood education and care, including family day care, educators and staff can be exposed to a range of workplace risks, including:
Work health and safety extends beyond physical safety to also include psychological wellbeing, which is increasingly recognised as a key consideration for services and educators. This is also particularly important in the current environment, where many in the sector are navigating ongoing reform and change.
SafeWork NSW has developed a range of practical resources to support the sector to identify hazards and reduce the risk of injury. While these resources are NSW-based, they provide useful guidance for services and educators nationally.
These include hazard identification tools and checklists, posters and fact sheets for common tasks (e.g. lifting, working at low levels, maintaining environments), resources to support managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace, as well as videos and case studies to support discussions and WHS planning.
Services may wish to use these resources as part of:
For more information and access to resources, visit SafeWork NSW: Early childhood education and care safety resources.
Did you know that FDCA has an Incident Reporting protocol for when incidents occur in your family day care business? Did you also know that FDCA's Member Zone allows you to lodge an incident report online with the click of a button?
Below are some examples of the types of incidents and the time frames in which you are required to notify FDCA:
Category A
These are severe incidents where a claim is likely to occur. These types of incidents must be reported to FDCA within 48 hours of the incident. Some examples of a Category A incident are:
Category B
These incidents are less severe but a claim may still occur from the incident. These types of incidents must be reported to FDCA within 30 days of the incident. Some examples of a Category B incident are:
Category C
These incidents are not severe and can be managed and dealt with straight away. There is no need to report a Category C incident to FDCA. Some examples of a Category C incident are:
These timeframes must be followed to ensure protection under your insurance policy, in the event that the incident leads to a claim in the future.
How to report an incident?
You can either complete FDCA’s incident report form which is available here OR you can complete an online incident report form which is located in the Insurance section of your FDCA Member Zone. Hard copy incident report forms, once completed, can be emailed to memberservices@fdca.com.au.
For more information on incident reporting, please click here.
Please note: educators and approved providers also have a range of reporting obligations relating to incidents under the Education and Care Services National Law and National Regulations. Click here to see a summary of the notification obligations under the National Law.
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