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We're excited to announce that the first round of nominations in the 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards has been released. FDCA members that have been nominated between the dates of 25 - 30 May have been sent their official nomination notification emails, with the lists of nominees available to view here.
Members that have been nominated after May 30 will receive their official nomination email and be placed on the nomination list when the second round of nominations are released on 22 June.
Over 1,000 nominations have already been received, which is a testament to the amazing work done across Australia by educators, services and their staff.
To help promote the Awards, you can access a range of resources via the FDCA website that will assist you to spread the word and build awareness of the Awards and family day care.
To nominate someone or a service that you believe deserves to be recognised in this year’s Awards, click here.
The family day care sector has the chance to have its say on the costs of delivering quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) through a short, anonymous workforce survey.
The Australian Government Department of Education is building a national picture of the true and reasonable costs of delivering safe, high quality ECEC.
The short, anonymous survey will ask about:
The survey is open to all family day care service staff and educators.
It is vitally important that the family day care sector is heard on this matter. FDCA strongly encourages all educators and service staff to complete the survey.
To complete the survey, click here.
Why this matters for family day care
This project represents a critical opportunity for the family day care sector to ensure that the unique cost structures and operating realities of home-based education and care are properly understood and reflected in future reform discussions.
This project is expected to become one of the most significant long-term reform drivers for future ECEC funding and policy settings. While the project itself will not directly determine future funding arrangements, it is intended to build the national evidence base regarding the true and reasonable costs of delivering safe and quality ECEC across different service types, locations and operating models.
Responses are anonymous and will not be linked to the service or educator.
Deloitte Access Economics is supporting the Australian Government Department of Education to conduct the Early Education Service Delivery Prices project.
If you have questions regarding the project, Deloitte Access Economics can be contacted at EESDP@deloitte.com.au or on 1800 371 146.
Tax time is on the horizon and navigating your way through the ins and outs of your tax obligations can be complex and time-consuming. To help support members with their all things tax, FDCA will be sitting down in the coming weeks to record with FDC Tax Guru, Ben Mueller.
Ben, who is the Director and Principal Accountant of FDC Tax, will be sharing his annual Family Day Care Tax presentation and answering questions from FDCA members.
As small operators, it’s essential that educators understand their tax responsibilities to ensure compliance, maximise entitlements, and support the financial sustainability of their business. Therefore, staying informed about current tax requirements is a key part of running a successful and sustainable business.
If you have any questions you would like Ben to answer, simply click here or email your questions to marketing@fdca.com.au before 12 June 2026.
The content of this webinar will be general in nature. As we don’t know your financial needs, you should seek tax, legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any content.
‘Get Early Childhood Compliance Knowledge Online', or Geccko, is the Australian Government Department of Education’s online learning platform. Geccko is tailored to the early childhood education and care sector.
The short course ‘Managing Absences’ will help improve your understanding of the different types of absences from child care and help you meet your obligations under Family Assistance Legislation.
The course will help you:
The course takes around 20 minutes to complete. You can:
To access this course or to find out more about other free online courses provided by Geccko, you can register here.
Early Childhood Australia (ECA), as part of its Strengthening Child Safeguarding Webinar Series, will host a live webinar next week titled Responding to Concerns Raised by Educators and Families.
The webinar series is designed to support educators and sector leaders to strengthen child safety practices, reflect on current challenges and explore approaches that support safe and responsive early childhood education environments.
This session features Catharine Hydon, Sam Melching and Jo Warneke, all members of the ECA Rapid Response Taskforce, which you can learn more about here.
The webinar details are:
All webinars in the series are free to attend, with recordings available to registered participants following the session.
There has been strong interest in the webinar series to date, so early registration is encouraged for those wishing to attend live.
For further information and to register, visit the Early Childhood Australia website.
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has recently updated its Early Childhood Learning Trajectories, providing educators and teachers with practical, evidence-informed strategies to support children’s learning and development.
The updated trajectories focus on five key areas of development:
Designed for use across a range of early childhood education and care settings, the trajectories cover the period from birth through to the year before full-time schooling and include guidance relevant to family day care.
The resources are intended to support educators in strengthening intentional teaching practices and understanding how children’s learning develops over time.
To explore the updated Early Childhood Learning Trajectories, please visit the AERO website.
The Family Day Care Australia national office will be closed on Monday 8 June and reopen 9.00am Tuesday 9 June 2026.
Should your family day care insurance require renewal during this period or if you need to purchase a new family day care insurance policy, please click here. If you need to make an emergency claim, details of how to do this are located on our website.
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