Priorities!

What's urgent? What needs to be done asap? What might you have missed? Here's the important stuff in a nutshell:

For the month of March 2024:

The NSW Office of the Children's Guardian are holding webinars on the Child Safe Standards, risk management, and reporting obligations throughout April. These can be accessed and booked here.
If you operate a vacation care service, you only have until 7April 2024 to register for the National Workforce Census
REMINDER that everyone working in your early childhood education and care service MUST have a valid Working with Children Check before they can commence employment.

For the month of February 2024:

The updated Approved Learning Frameworks came into effect at the beginning of February and all services are required to be operating in accordance with them or face a breach of the National Regulations
Department of Education ECE Connect Webinars 2024 will run from 11-21 March and are now open for registration.
NSW Disability and Inclusion Program funding allocation applications for Quarter 2 will cut off 8 March 2024.
Applications for the Federal Government’s disadvantaged and vulnerable communities grant (part of the Community Child Care Fund CCCF) close on 8 March 2024
Expressions of Interest are now open for ACECQA’s Quality Support Program, supporting services rated Working Towards National Quality Standard.
Applications for the NSW Department of Education’s Health and Development Participation (HDP) Grant Program close 31 March 2024 via SmartyGrants.
NSW Office of the Children's Guardian has released new eLearning modulesnew eLearning modules focusing on reducing and managing risk to children.

For the month of January 2024:

Changes to the Inclusion Support Program came into effect from 11 January 2024. new applications will only be approved to 30/6/24 and services will need to reapply if they require the subsidy from 1 July 2024.
From 1 February 2024, the updated Approved Learning Frameworks come into effect and all services are required to be operating in accordance with EYLF v2.0 and MTOP v2.0 or the approved provider will be in breach of the National Regulations.
All applications for Quarter 2 2024, Disability and Inclusion Program must be submitted by 8 March 2024.
New Child Safe Standard resources are available, with the first e-learning module available through the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian.
Registrations are open for Geccko, the Federal Department of Education's free, self paced e-learning platform to help you better understand your obligations under Assistance Law.

For the month of November 2023:

From 8 December 2024 (and not 8 December 2023) new Food Safety requirements come into effect for all ECEC services that provide meals as part of their service.
Sleep and Rest changes came into effect 1 October 2023. Make sure you are across all the changes!
Grandparent carers at your service may be entitled to ACCS
CCS Helpdesk will close for Christmas from 12.30pm 22 December and reopen 9am 2 January 2024.
As we head into bushfire season, services should create/update their emergency management plan
There is at least 36 hours per fortnight of CCS available to First Nations Children in your care.
ACA joined forces with CELA, CCC & the UWU to address the Federal Government to address the workforce crisis in Early Childhood Education
Since July 2023 you can apply for National Law approval AND CCS at the same time via the NQAITS portal.
From 6 December 2023, new rules apply for employing staff on a fixed term contract (eg maternity leave). Regulatory changes came into effect on 1 October 2023 mostly focusing on sleep and rest. Make sure your policies and procedures are up to date and give effect to these changes! Access our updated policies here by logging in with Username and Password. Services rated Working Towards have the opportunity to register for the Quality Support Program through ACECQA.
ECE Connect Webinars are running until 7 December on a number of topics. Register here