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4 November 2020

SA and WA Regional Educator Winners announced yesterday - 2020 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards

Following an unprecedented 5,600 nominations and the reveal of our ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA and WA Regional Educator Winners, Family Day Care Australia (FDCA) was delighted to announce yesterday our final round of winners in the 2020 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards.

Congratulations again to all 17 of our SA and WA Regional Educator Winners! We are in awe of the achievements of our winners and the contributions they make to children and families in their communities.

Our SA and WA Regional Educator Winners were posted to our Facebook page at 12.30pm (AEDT) yesterday. Alternatively, you can view the list of winners on the FDCA website.

The SA and WA Regional Educator Winners now go into the running to be named as the SA/WA National Educator Finalist.

2020 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Calendar

FDCA will reveal the winners of our Star Awards, National Finalists and National Winners on the dates below:

  • Star Award Winners - 17 November 2020
  • National Finalists - 7 December 2020
  • National Winners - 27 February 2021

As the only national event of its kind, the 2020 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards are an important opportunity to highlight the unique benefits of the family day care home learning environment, and position family day care as the natural choice for quality early childhood education and care. FDCA would like to commend all of our nominees in the 2020 Awards and thank everyone who has participated.

We encourage our members to keep an eye out for media coverage on our Regional Educator Winners, which will be shared on our Facebook page and website.

Distributed leadership in family day care - Survey open!

In a direct bulletin to all members yesterday, FDCA was excited to announce the launch of  a national study investigating effective leadership in family day care. Recognising the unique context of family day care, the aim of the Distributed leadership in family day care study is to find out more about leadership approaches and strategies that enable high quality family day care and make these visible within the sector and broader community. 

This is an important study and the end result will be practical information and a training resource to support good practice in family day care. We encourage all our members to take the time to share your valuable views, insights and experiences by responding to the national survey. 

The Distributed leadership in family day care study is being undertaken by a team of researchers from Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland, in partnership with FDCA, the Family Day Care Association of Queensland, Early Childhood Australia (QLD), and Wynnum Family Day Care. 

Who can be involved?

The study is open to anyone working in family day care, including educators, coordination unit staff and approved providers. 

What do I need to do to participate in the study?  

  • Complete the online survey. The survey asks questions about you, your work in family day care and your views and experiences of leadership within the sector and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.  

We also encourage you to share the survey with other educators, service staff and approved providers across your network.

The survey does not require you to identify yourself, although we encourage individuals to identify their service as this allows us to consider approaches and practices on a micro scale. (Please note that individual services will not be identified in any reports or publications).

Click here for the Distributed Leadership in FDC Survey.

The closing date for responding to the survey is 20 November 2020.

Why be involved in this project? 

Findings from the project will support an enhanced understanding of effective leadership in family day care and will inform the development of a free training resource.

The aim of the study is to support good practice family day care policy and practices that are informed by research.

Ethical research  

Your participation in the study is voluntary. If you do not wish to complete a question in the survey, you may choose not to answer. You can also withdraw from the survey at any time prior to pressing ‘submit survey’.

Completing the survey and clicking ‘submit’ means you give your consent to participate in this research which has been approved by the QUT Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 1900000802). 

For more information about this study, please refer to the information sheet which is available on the QUT website

If you have a question about the study you may wish to contact the Senior Research Assistant, Ms Kerrie Petersen at kerrie.petersen@qut.edu.au or Lead Chief Investigator, Professor Susan Irvine at s.irvine@qut.edu.au

Grow your Business with the FDCA Market My Business Hub

Did you know that as an FDCA Member you can access FREE, customisable marketing resources to help promote and grow your business?

The Market My Business Hub has been created to support members to promote their family day care with a consistent and contemporary look and feel.

The resources available through the Market My Business Hub will allow FDCA members to market their family day care service as a professional, nurturing and high quality early childhood education and care option for families, and as a career of choice for those wishing to work in the sector.

The resources available exclusively through the Market My Business Hub include:

  • Brochures
  • Flyers
  • Posters
  • Custom family day care logos
  • Email banners
  • Social media images (promotional graphics)
  • Certificates of recognition (available for services only)

You can even request a copy of our family day care television commercials to share on your own digital networks.

To view a short video about the FDCA Market My Business Hub, click on one of the links below:

Click here to view our video for educators; or

Click here to view our video for services.

Who can access the Marketing Resources Hub?

The Market My Business Hub is available free of charge to FDCA members. Best of all, access is included with your FDCA membership!

To access the Market My Business Hub you will need to activate your FDCA Member Zone.

How does it work?

Access and order material from the Market My Business Hub by following these simple steps:

  1. Log into your FDCA Member Zone.
  2. Select "Market My Business" from the main menu.
  3. Select the marketing resources you would like to order (you can also view samples before making a selection).
  4. Complete the relevant online forms with the details you would like on your material. 

Once your order has been submitted it will be sent to FDCA and, once processed, your marketing resources will be emailed to you within ten business days.

Please note that brochures, flyers and posters are provided in soft copy only (PDF format).

Activating my FDCA Member Zone

Accessing your Member Zone is easy:

  1. Click here to activate your free account (for the best experience, use the latest Chrome browser.
  2. Enter your registered email address.
  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.

Anne Hollonds commences as National Children’s Commissioner

Anne Hollonds commenced as Australia’s next National Children’s Commissioner on Monday 2 November 2020.

In taking up the role, Commissioner Hollonds emphasised the need for greater recognition of the importance of childhood in Australia. 

“Childhood is quite rightly described as critically important for peoples’ social, health and economic outcomes, but the value of childhood is not only about the future adult that a child may become…  Children must be respected for who they are in the ‘here and now’.” 

The National Children’s Commissioner is a statutory position responsible for protecting and promoting the rights of all children in Australia, as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Commissioner Hollonds was previously the Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies and has front-line experience in children’s and family services. 

Her priorities for the role include ensuring that the major impacts of COVID-19 on children are considered in recovery efforts, and committing to the protection of the rights of the child.