Issue 4 • Autumn 2015
This document serves as a summary of The Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales’ weekly updates from the first quarter of 2015, in addition to all the other news relevant to our sector.
The Nurture Nook 4 - 2015 - Q1
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www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
Contents Features T: 1300 556 330 F: 1300 557 228 nsw@childcarealliance.org.au www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au PO Box 660 Parramatta NSW 2124 facebook.com/ChildCareNSW @ChildCareNSW
Tony Harris Wherefore Art Thou, Wombat?
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Child Care New South Wales gratefully acknowledges the support of our partners:
guildinsurance.com.au/business-insurance/childcare
childcaresuper.com.au
Gold Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
www2.qktech.com.au/ACANSW
wombatstories.com.au
In Memoriam Warren Gibb
Regulars President’s Letter 4 Immunisation and Health Updates 5 New South Wales Election 6 Productivity Commission Update 7 Industrial Relations 8 National Issues 10 State Issues 11 Local Government Issues 12 Sector Update 12 Training and Professional Development 14 Supplier Member Directory 19
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childcareconcepts.com.au
buzzrecruitment.com.au
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Authorised Contacts
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friendly reminder that Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales staff are only permitted to respond to member inquiries made by members’ authorised contacts. If your staff are making inquiries on your behalf, please ensure that you have advised us IN WRITING (by emailing nsw@
Advertisements in The Nurture Nook are accepted by Child Care New South Wales in good faith; liability for advertising content, goods and services supplied is the responsibility of the advertiser.
childcarealliance.org.au) that they are an authorised contact in order to avoid delays in having inquiries addressed. This is to protect your information as there have been instances in the past where private information and advice has been requested by staff, against the wishes of the employer.
The Nurture Nook has it covered in terms of vital member information. But you can help keep us covered – by providing us with great photos to feature on our cover and within our pages. If your service has an event, function or activity and you have awesome photos from it, please consider providing us with high resolution copies to use. With appropriate permissions, of course. Contact: dom.romeo@childcarealliance.org.au
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President’s Letter
President’s Letter from Nesha O’Neil, President of Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales
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elcome to the first issue of The Nurture Nook for 2015. All members will be aware by now of our new logo and new website. As Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales (ACA NSW) we are brought closer to our national body, Australian Childcare Alliance, and our fellow state associations across the country. As this issue goes to print, we are days away from the New South Wales state election. Hopefully you were able to make use of the NSW Election Poster and Election Policy Priorities document made available via The Weekly Update. More importantly, we hope you were able to make contact with your local member in order to make your concerns known, and your needs heard. By the time you read this, you should know who is in power. As ever, we hope one of the big winners will be early childhood education and care. Speaking of meeting needs, our 2015 training program is well underway. Have you got a copy of the 2015 Training Calendar? The March edition lists sessions up to the end of June. It is available for download from our website, with regular
updates included in aptly titled Weekly Update (the newsletter emailed to you every Friday). While there is further information within regarding all the activities with which we have been representing members’ needs – including webinars and workshops – may we also add that plans for bus tours, conferences, symposiums and the Australian Childcare Week Awards continue apace. Our first bus tour of the year takes place May 2nd – keep reading your Weekly Updates for further information on this event and all relevant and timely information regarding events, issues and concerns of relevance. For now, enjoy this issue of The Nurture Nook.
Nesha O’Neil, PRESIDENT
Free Legal Advice for Guild Clients
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s members would be aware, Guild Insurance is one of our strongest supporters, and we know many of you insure with Guild. What you may not know is that if you are a Guild client, you will be provided with free legal advice by telephone if an incident occurs that may lead to a liability claim being made against you or your service. On top of this, you also receive two hours’ free legal support and advice on matters regarding employment related liability or regulatory matters. For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/ACANSW_ guild_legal
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www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
Immunisation and Health Updates
Immunisation and Health Updates Immunisation Records
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e have had a number of member inquiries regarding immunisation and record-keeping requirements. The vaccination requirements that came in to force 12 months ago prevent early childhood education and care services from enrolling children unless immunisation certificates proving that they are fully immunised, or have a specific exemption, are provided at enrolment. Services must have documented evidence that children are up-to-date with their vaccinations, or that they are on a recognised catch-up schedule, or that they have a medical contraindication to
vaccination, or that their parents have a conscientious objection to vaccination, BEFORE enrolling a child. You should have all received a hard copy of the Immunisation Enrolment Toolkit from NSW Health in late 2013, but you can also download it at bit. ly/ACANSW_immunisation_toolkit. There are also online Frequently Asked Questions available at bit.ly/ACANSW_ immunisation_qa. NB: Children who are enrolled in formal schooling are exempt from these requirements.
LEFT: graphic from www.health. nsw.gov.au/immunisation RIGHT: cover of the Immunisation Enrolment Toolkit
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ll services should have received an email from the NSW Department of Education and Communities 19 February 2015 with important information regarding the recent contamination of frozen berry products with the Hepatitis A virus. This email included NSW Health information about the risks, which services are welcome to share with parents. Please visit bit.ly/ACANSW_hep_a_health_warning to access the email.
FAR LEFT: front page of NSW Department of Education and Communities email regarding Hepatitis A contamination BELOW: front page of NSW Department of Education and Communities email regarding whooping caugh
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Whooping Cough Health Warning
arly childhood education and care services in NSW should have received an email from the NSW Department of Education and Communities 26 February 2015 regarding whooping cough (pertussis). The Early Childhood Education and Care Directorate had received notification of whooping cough cases at three services in the north west Sydney region in the the week prior. The Directorate has been working with affected services to ensure appropriate steps are followed and precautions taken to protect the health and safety of children and staff at – and visitors to – the services. If you missed the email, and would like links to fact sheets, control guidelines, immunisation information, notification requirements and so on, please visit bit.ly/ACANSW_whooping_cough_health_warning to access this important email.
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NSW Election
NSW Election
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t the time of writing, the 28 March 2015 NSW Election is only a matter of days away, with it looking increasingly likely that the Baird Government will be returned, albeit with a smaller majority. Thank you to those members who took up our challenge of meeting with your local candidates and Members of Parliament to discuss our election policy priorities with them. As you may recall, we asked all parties to commit to: • Delayed implementation of changes to educator:child ratios; • Reduced fees for Certificate III and Diploma qualifications; • Coordinated, strategic planning for early childhood education and care; and • Preschool funding for all children, including those in long day care. We provided you with posters, a YouTube video, flyers and suggestions as to how you could help ensure that early childhood education and care is on the radar in your local electorate. We ensured that media outlets were aware of what we were seeking and received a number of calls from members who proudly reported that they had invited their local candidates and/ or MPs to visit their service. Our Vice President, Lyn Connolly, was in the audience for a
recent episode of ABC television’s Q&A program and submitted a question on ratios and qualifications. Lyn’s question was aired in the second half of the program, with a number of panellists having their say on the issue. This was another great way for us to ensure our issues remained on the agenda both at a state and national level. We will provide a full wrap-up of the outcomes of the NSW Election in our next edition of Nurture Nook, and will advise you of any relevant Ministerial changes via our Weekly Updates and/or Member Alerts. TOP: Lyn Connolly, Vice President Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales, appearing on ABCTV's Q&A
ABOVE L-R: Facsimiles of our NSW Election Poster and Election Policy Priorities document.
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O ABOVE, L-R: Thr Hon Adrian Piccoli MP, NSW Minister for Education (National Party); the Hon Linda Burney MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education (Australian Labor Party); the Hon Dr John Kaye MLC (Greens) RIGHT: Chris Legg, KU Children's Services; the Hon Linda Burney MP; Trish Brown, Uniting Care Children's Services; the Hon Dr John Kaye MLC; Rebecca O'Sullivan, Mobile Children's Services Association of New South Wales
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www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
ur CEO, Brianna Casey, and Executive Committee member Sharon Graham attended the education and care election forum held in Sydney 9 March 2015. Speakers included the Hon Adrian Piccoli MP, NSW Minister for Education (National Party); the Hon Linda Burney MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education (Australian Labor Party); and the Hon Dr John Kaye MLC (The Greens). This was a great way to ask the tough questions about the issues raised in our Election Policy Priorities document.
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he Federal Government released the final Productivity Commission Inquiry Report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning 20 February 2015. You can access the full report, overviews, key points and so on at http://bit.ly/ ACANSW_PCR. We worked very closely – and quickly! – with our national body, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA), to review the detail and issue a Member Alert within hours of the release of the report. You can read ACA’s media release in response to the final report at bit.ly/ACANSW_ACA_ PCR_response. Just to remind you, this is a report TO government, not OF government. The Federal Government has spent the last few months analysing the report and may choose to adopt some, all or none of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations. As such, please assure the families and educators at your service that the report does not change current policy, funding or subsidies. What will result in changes to policy, funding and subsidies is the Federal Government's Families Package, which is still being prepared (see page 10). We have been assured that we will be consulted on the early childhood related aspects of the Families Package, which may be released as early as the Federal Budget in May 2015, and we will keep you posted on progress via our Weekly Updates. Some of the final Productivity Commission report recommendations include: • the introduction of a means-tested, activitytested Early Care and Learning Subsidy (replacing the current Child Care Benefit, Child Care Rebate and Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance schemes) paid directly to services for up to 100 hours per fortnight, based on a benchmark price (which replaces their earlier proposal of a ‘deemed rate’); ӹӹ there will be a sliding scale starting at an 85% subsidy rate for a family income of <$60 000 down to 20% for a family income of $250 000 per annum. Any difference between the subsidised amount of the benchmark price and the actual price charged by the service would be met by parents; ӹӹ there will be an activity test, meaning that ȧȧ to receive up to 100 hours of service per fortnight, parents must undertake at least 24 hours per fortnight of work, study or training, or are in an exemption category (eg in receipt of a Disability Support Pension); or for children who have as their primary carer someone other than their parent/s; ȧȧ to receive up to 20 hours of service per fortnight, parents who do not meet the above activity test must be in receipt of a Parenting Payment, or for up to 30 hours per fortnight for children undertaking an approved preschool program in a long day care centre; • the benchmark rate will be determined semiannually as the median of published prices for
ECEC services (which replaces their earlier proposal of a ‘deemed rate’). ӹӹ For the same reasons that we rejected the previous concept of a ‘deemed rate’, we are concerned that a national median rate will not reflect the massive variation in operating costs, eg different Early Childhood Teacher requirements between states/territories; metro and regional variation etc. ӹӹ NB: the median price quoted in the final report is $7.41/hour for a 0-35 month old child in long day care and $7.20 for a child in long day care aged >36 months. Whilst we welcome acknowledgement of the higher operating costs for providing early childhood education and care to younger children, these rates do not reflect current operating costs. ӹӹ The benchmark price will be lower for children in their year before school receiving a preschool program. ȧȧ The rationale is that this will prevent ‘double-dipping’, as the Federal Government already provides funding (via Universal Access) for 15 hours/ week, 40 weeks a year. However, as you all know, the NSW Government has failed to provide this funding to children receiving a preschool program in privately owned long day care services, so we cannot support a lower benchmark price for children at our services. • the range of services approved for assistance should include approved nannies that meet NQF requirements (and who have a minimum Cert III qualification), linked to a coordinator (similar to current Family Day Care arrangements); • educators responsible for children aged <35 months should have a minimum of a Cert III qualification and be supervised by a Diploma qualified educator; • Early Childhood Teacher requirements should be based on the number of children aged >35 months, which could have significant impacts on the number of ECTs required per service (NB: we do not not how the states/territories would respond to this recommendation); • improved access to outside school hours care (OSHC) and nationally consistent staff ratios for OSHC; • changes to operating requirements (eg removing rigid requirements on hours per day; hours per week), but we note that this will require support from all levels of government, given that local government can impact on services' operating hours. Once again, please remember that the above (and other) recommendations are simply that recommendations. What the Federal Government chooses to do with those recommendations will depend on our feedback, their budget, and their ongoing discussions with key stakeholders. Watch this space for details!
Productivity Commission Report
Productivity Commission Report
ABOVE: The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning, released 20 February 2015 BELOW: The Australian Childcare Alliance media release issued soon thereafter
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Industrial Relations
Industrial Relations
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Equal Remuneration Order Update
s you may already be aware, in mid-2013, United Voice and the Australian Education Union (Victorian Branch) lodged an application for an Equal Remuneration Order (http://bit.ly/ ACANSW_ERO) (ERO), seeking increased wages; an additional minimum of two hours/ week for planning, preparing, evaluating and programming activities; and a minimum of one hour/fortnight for attending staff meetings outside of the ordinary hours of work. The Independent Education Union of Australia lodged an additional application for an ERO on 8 October 2013. The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) and state associations (including ACA NSW) have closely monitored this case as it has progressed. In the last 14 months, the case has moved from the research phase to the legislative and conceptual framework phase. The case is now moving to the evidentiary phase, which will require substantial input from respondents to the case. As such, over the past few months, ACA has held detailed discussions regarding the
case, and how best to ensure the strongest possible representation as the case progresses. It is vital that we have as our industrial advisors the people whom we consider the best to represent us in the Commission, particularly noting that the claim incorporates wage increases of up to $10 per hour. ACA has interviewed major industrial advocates and chosen, on merit, the Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA) to represent ACA members in this case. ABLA has been involved in the ERO case since lodgement and is well versed on the points of contention of the claim. ACA will have an industrial sub group to work with ABLA to ensure that the best outcome for members is achieved. During the term of this case, ACA will be requesting information from our national membership and seeking members who are prepared to appear in the Commission to defend the action and to provide the Commissioner with operational points of concern. ABLA and ACA will provide regular
updates on the progression of the ERO case. We can assure you that we will continue to be actively involved in this case in earnest, as the future of the sector depends on an outcome that ensures that it remains sustainable into the future to continue to provide education and care to children in their most valuable years of development and learning.
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4-Yearly Review of Modern Awards
he Fair Work Act requires the Fair Work Commission to undertake a review of modern awards every four years. The “4-Yearly Review” provides interested parties – such as ourselves – an opportunity to seek variation to awards. The 4-Yearly Review has been divided
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into two stages, namely the ‘common matters’ stage and the individual award stage. In the common matters stage, the Commission will deal with claims that affect a large number of awards (eg annual leave, transitional provisions, part-time and casual employment etc). During the individual award stage, each modern award is reviewed, and parties are able to seek variations to a particular award. Given how many awards are being reviewed, the awards have been divided into 4 groups. Both the Children’s Services Award 2010 and the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010 are in Group 4 (sub-group 4A). The review process is well under way for Groups 1 and 2, with numerous conferences and hearings having been held. The review process has now commenced for Groups 3 and 4. We are continuing to work closely with our national body, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA), regarding the issues in the Children’s Services Award and Educational Services (Teachers) Award that require attention.
www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
Our sincere thanks to those members who responded to the ACA survey seeking your feedback on key issues in each of the Awards. The survey responses, as well as the consolidated feedback we receive from the NSW Business Chamber and Kenneally & Co Lawyers on the nature of the member inquiries we transfer to them, were instrumental in our instructions to the Australian Business Lawyers and Advisors (ABLA), who are representing ACA and members in the 4-Yearly Review. ABLA has already lodged its first submission in response to the 4-Yearly Review, advising that we will be seeking variation to clause 21 (and potentially clause 10) to provide employers with greater flexibility to change rosters other than with 7 days notice; and variation to clause 21 to allow ordinary hours to be worked before 6.00am or after 6.30pm. We will be regularly updating you as the review proceeds, so please ensure you are reading our Weekly Updates, or watch this space for details!
Industrial Relations
Apprentice Conditions
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s part of the 4-yearly review of Modern Awards, the Fair Work Commission recently varied the apprentice provisions in 37 modern awards, including the Children's Services Award 2010. The changes - which took effect 1 January 2015 - vary from award to award, but generally deal with training and assessment undertaken as part of an apprenticeship. For
example, the Children's Services Award 2010 will now require employers to pay apprentices' excess travel costs for attendance at block release training at a distant location requiring an overnight stay. Given the very small number of members who have apprentices (NB: a trainee is not an apprentice), we understand the impacts in NSW should be minor.
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Changes to Modern Awards
here have been a number of changes made to the Children’s Services Award 2010 and Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010 to remove the transitional provisions relating to redundancy, district allowances and accident pay that expired at the end of 2014. It is important
to note that there is no actual change to the terms and conditions of employment. However, a number of clauses have been renumbered, so if you have printed copies in the office, you may need to download and print an updated version to ensure the numbering is up to date.
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Employment Contracts
s you may already be aware, as one of our important member benefits, ACA NSW provides template employment contracts for use when employing educators under either the Children's Services Award 2010 or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010. These templates have been designed to assist you in ensuring that your contracts of employment are comprehensive, robust and compliant with current Industrial Relations law. We have just updated these templates, in conjunction with Kenneally & Co Lawyers. The updated templates can be accessed from the members-only industrial relations pages of our website. Please ensure you have read our disclaimer regarding the applicability of these contracts to your service. If a legal opinion is sought, please contact your legal advisor. This image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / svl861
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Warning: False Billing Scam
e had a number of members affected by this scam about this time last year, and it seems to be doing the rounds again, so please be cautious when dealing with online advertisers. In the current scam, early childhood education and care services have been cold-called by a company claiming to be ‘renewing’ the centre’s listing in an online directory of early childhood education and care services. The centre is then unexpectedly billed for a large sum of money – in this instance $900. Please note: ACA NSW is not affiliated with any online
directories and does not endorse any. If you are approached to be included in a non-Government online directory, please do not sign any paperwork without reading it, and please do not feel pressured to sign. If you do not recall any previous conversations, at the very least, ask to see the directory, ask what it costs, and ask what you will be receiving for such a large sum of money. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has a fantastic web page on directories and advertising false billing, which you can access by visiting bit.ly/ACANSW_ scamwatch_falsebilling.
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National Issues
National Issues Regulation Impact Statement: NQF Review
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ubmissions have now closed on the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) released 7 November 2014. A submission was lodged by our national body, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA), picking up on issues of relevance to all states and territories, including issues that affect only NSW. A copy of the ACA submission was circulated to members via an ACA Member Alert 16 January 2015. Thank you to those members who took the time to respond to the Consultation RIS, through attending consultation meetings, lodging submissions and completing the online survey. As you may recall, there were a number of proposals in the RIS that we welcomed, eg proposals to reduce the complexity of the National Quality Standard (Proposal 1.1), streamline quality assessments (Proposal 1.2), make changes to ratings (Proposals 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7); remove the requirement for supervisor
RIGHT: Education Council’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for proposed options for changes to the National Qualtity Framework (NQF); and BELOW: Australian Childcare Alliance’s response
certificates (Proposal 2.1); and extend some liability to educators (Proposal 4.1). There were, however, a number of proposals that we are strongly opposed to, such as the proposed exclusion of NSW from possible changes to Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) leave provisions (Proposal 8.4.1), as this will introduce even more inconsistency to the national framework. We are also strongly opposed to the proposed massive changes to provider approval fees, service approval fees and annual fees for approved services (Proposals 5.2, 5.3, 5.4) and the introduction of a new fee for extension of a temporary waiver (Proposal 5.1). We are also concerned about regulatory authorities’ capacity to meet the assessment and rating and enforcement requirements should the proposal to include other services in the NQF (Proposals 3.1 and 3.2) be accepted. We will update members on the outcome of this important review
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New Federal Minister
s we advised in our 21 December 2014 Member Alert, a Ministerial reshuffle took place before Christmas, which has resulted in a number of changes to portfolios affecting our sector. The Hon Sussan Ley MP was promoted to the Cabinet, and is now Minister for Health and Sport. The Hon Scott Morrison MP is now Minister for Social Services, which now includes childcare.
We wrote to the Minister for Social Services; Assistant Minister for Social Services and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and Assistant Minister for Education and Training, as soon as they were appointed, requesting meetings to discuss the key issues affecting members in NSW. We also wrote to Minister Ley, thanking her for her efforts during her time as Assistant Minister for Education.
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: The Hon Scott Morrison MP, Minister for Social Services; the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Education and Training; the Hon Sussan Ley MP, Minister for Health and Sport (formerly Assistant Minister for Education); Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, Assistant Minister for Education
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Ministerial Advisory Council Meeting
he Ministerial Advisory Council for Child Care and Early Learning met in Canberra 16 March 2015. As members would be aware, both our CEO, Brianna Casey, and the President of ACA, Gwynn Bridge, are members of the Council, which provides feedback to the Federal Social Services Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP. This was the first meeting of the Council since the Federal reshuffle, providing Minister Morrison with an opportunity to hear directly from Council members the key concerns from the sector regarding the Productivity Commission Report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning, and provide an overview of his current thinking regarding the much-anticipated ‘Families Package’. At the time of writing, it is
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www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
still looking possible that the Federal Government will announce the childcare components of the ‘Families Package’ as part of the Federal Budget in May 2015, or possibly even before. Minister Morrison has been at pains to highlight the importance of consulting with both the sector and the Opposition about the package, which is expected to include Government’s response to a number of recommendations from the Productivity Commission report. Both ACA and ACA NSW have been quoted extensively in mainstream media in recent weeks about a range of issues expected to be canvassed in the package, from 2016 ratios to planning to the proposed ‘activity test’. We will issue a Member Alert the moment we have news on these critically important policy and funding changes.
CLOCKWISE FROM IMMEDIATE RIGHT: The Hon Luke Foley MLC; John Robertson MP; Ryan Park, Shadow Minister for Education and Training; the Hon Linda Burney MP, Shadow Minister for Education and Training
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State Issues
State Issues New State Opposition Leader
ollowing the 22 December 2014 resignation of John Robertson MP as NSW Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Luke Foley MLC was appointed NSW Leader of the Opposition 5 January 2015. A number of changes have taken place in the Shadow Ministry as a result.
The Hon Linda Burney MP remains Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, and Ryan Park remains Shadow Minister for Education and Training. We have written to Mr Foley regarding our concerns with the 2016 ratios and have requested a meeting to discuss this and other issues.
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Meeting with the Department of Education
CA NSW Chief Executive Officer Brianna Casey met with Leslie Loble, Chief Executive of the NSW Office of Education in Sydney 11 February 2015. This was an excellent opportunity to discuss some of the key policy, legislative and programme issues facing members, ranging from Smart & Skilled to the 2016 ratio change for 2yos to planning. Brianna also raised Universal Access, as despite the former National Partnership Agreement expiring in December 2014, there has been no confirmation as to how funds for 2015 will be allocated, particularly given the conditions
stipulated by the Federal Government that Universal Access funding be made available regardless of service type. There are no updates on this issue at this time, but rest assured, the moment we are advised, we will let you know! Brianna also attended a meeting of the NSW Department of Education and Communities Early Childhood Education and Care Reference Group in Parramatta Friday 13 February 2015. Key items of discussion included Early Childhood Teacher accreditation, feedback to date on the voluntary Transition to School Statement, and the consultation Regulation Impact Statement.
ABOVE: Brianna Casey, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales; Leslie Loble, Chief Executive of NSW Office of Education
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Appearing in news stories to speak about 2016 ratio changes and their impact on fees for parents: Mary Repole (ABOVE), Secretary, and Nesha O’Neil (BELOW), President, of Australian Childcare Alliance NSW
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“Day Orphanages”
everend the Hon Fred Nile, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, tweeted in late January 2015 that early childhood education and care services are “day orphanages” and that children belong at home with their mothers. (We’re not sure what role Reverend Nile sees fathers playing!) We obviously couldn't let these comments slide, so we invited Reverend Nile to tour one of the long day care services run by our President, Nesha O’Neil and see first-hand an example of the wonderful work that we all do in early childhood education and care. Reverend Nile did in fact visit a community preschool several days later, and clarified that his comments were “aimed at some private sector childcare centres” who he accused of “putting profit ahead of care”. There is clearly much work for us to do in educating Reverend Nile about the outstanding services run by our members. RIGHT: Daily Telegraph (online edition) January 21, 2015
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Local Government Issues / Sector Update
Local Government Issues
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s members would be aware, one of the issues we have been raising with all levels of government for quite some time is local government planning restrictions. We have highlighted your experiences with inconsistent and overzealous restrictions, ranging from car-parking requirements to the colour of shade cloths to restrictions on outdoor lighting. We have made some excellent progress through our regular discussions with the NSW Office of the Small Business Commissioner, and we are now at a stage where we can commence discussions about what Local Government best practice would look like. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Whilst we have received many examples of poor interactions and experiences with Local Government, we have received very few examples of positive experiences. If you have been through the Development Application process recently, or regularly interact with your council, or feel like your council has an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities of our sector, please let us know by calling or emailing us. Thank you in advance for your assistance. This image Š Can Stock Photo Inc. / Shotsudio
Sector Update
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Report on Government Services
he Productivity Commission released its latest Report on Government Services 6 February 2015, which measures the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. Given its size, the report is presented as a series of chapters. Early Childhood Education and Care is addressed in Chapter 3, covering early childhood education and care for children aged 12 years or younger. Chapter 3 highlights that there were 1.1 million children aged 12 years or younger attending Child Care Benefit (CCB) approved child care services in the March quarter 2014, a 7.6% increase from 2013. It is reported that 90.9% of 4-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool program in their year before fulltime schooling, an increase of 86.2% on the year prior. The report also found that the median weekly cost for 50 hours of CCB-approved long day care increased by 4.9% from 2013 to 2014, with ACT ($463) and NSW ($416) having the two most expensive median weekly costs for 50 hours of CCB approved long day care. According to the report, the proportion of paid primary contact
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staff employed by CCB approved child care services with a relevant formal qualification at or above Cert III in 2013 was highest in Victoria (79.8%), followed by Qld (76.5%), Tasmania (75.4%) and NSW (73.5%). The report also found that there were 99,655 primary contact staff employed in Australian Government CCB-approved child care services in 2013 and 36,283 staff employed in state/territory government funded/provided preschool services. As widely reported in the media Friday 6 February 2015, the report also highlighted that the total Australian, State and Territory government expenditure on early childhood education and care was $7.7 billion in 2013-14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a real increase of $857.8m (12.5%) from 2012-13. Interestingly, the NSW Government has the second lowest level of recurrent expenditure on early childhood education and care per child in the community, only marginally ahead of Western Australia. The report is massive (Chapter 3 alone is almost 2000 pages!), but you can access the relevant information on child care, education and training by visiting bit.ly/ACANSW_PC_ RGS_childcare
www.nsw.childcarealliance.org.au
ABOVE: Report on Government Services 2015
Sector Update
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Latest ACECQA Snapshot Released
he Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has released the latest NQF Snapshot report for Q4 2014. The number of early childhood education and care services has grown to 14 577 across Australia (up from 14 486 last quarter), operated by 7203 approved providers (down from 7218 last quarter). The report highlights that 83% of approved providers operate only one service. The report shows that 65% of the 7637 services that have received a quality rating are meeting or exceeding the National Quality Standard (NQS),
and 5.6% of services are currently operating with a waiver (down from 6.4% last quarter). Looking at NSW specifically, as at 31 December 2014, there were 4958 approved services across the state (up from 4916 last quarter), 4694 of which are centre-based services, and 264 of which are family day care. Only 59% of services have been assessed and rated (up from 54% last quarter), with 56% of assessed services meeting or exceeding the NQS. You can download the full report from bit.ly/ ACANSW_ACECQAfeb15snapshotQ4
ABOVE: NQF Snapshot Q4 2014 (full report: bit. ly/ACANSW_ACECQAfeb15snapshotQ4) LEFT: Percentage of NSW approved services with finalised quality rating, and percentages by quality area at 31 December 2014, from ACECQA’s NQF Snapshot Q4 2014 (full report: bit.ly/ACANSW_ACECQAfeb15snapshotQ4) BELOW: ACECQA Newsletter Issue 2 2015, including ‘A quick guide to your assessment and rating visit’ (access it: bit.ly/ACANSW_ACECQA_newsletter2_2015)
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EC Extra
he latest edition of the Early Childhood Extra has been released by the NSW Department of Education and Communities’ Early Childhood Education and Care Directorate. This edition contains information for services on building and maintaining effective relationships with Aboriginal families and communities; information about Multiple Birth Awareness Week; and information from NSW Fair Trading about childcare deposits. To download a copy, please visit bit.ly/ACANSW_ECExtra20.
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Sector Update / Training and Professional Development
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t Child Care Super we understand that you would rather focus your efforts on managing your business. That’s why we offer a range of simple and helpful services focused on reducing your administration burden, saving time whilst taking care of your super obligations.
Time is running out, are you SuperStream compliant? As well as saving you time, making your super payments electronically will soon be a legal requirement for all employers. SuperStream is the administration section of the Government’s Stronger Super reforms package, requiring employers to register members and make their super contributions electronically. All employers will soon need to meet this new legal requirement. The final deadline for businesses with 20 or more employees is weeks away - 30 June 2015. The final deadline for smaller employers with 19 or less employees is 30 June 2016. Whilst you may have time to implement the payment options, there’s no reason why you should wait. Act now to avoid any ATO administrative penalties.
Increase business efficiency Child Care Super offers a number of online options to meet the Government’s legal requirements; • MercerSpectrum Clearing House – for employers with more than 19 employees • Employer online, using BPAY – for employers with less than 20 employees
If you’re an employer with less than 20 employees and would prefer to use a clearing house rather than our employer online services, we suggest you look at the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House – designed specifically for a small employer and run by the ATO, it’s a free facility for the business community.
Need more information? For more information on the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House go to the ATO website www.ato.gov.au/super/superstream. You will find information for employers with links to the Clearing House and a registration form. If you need assistance to work out which electronic option suits you, assistance with your staff ’s super rollover needs, our skilled consultants are only a phone call away. Call us on 1300 365 899 9am to 5pm AEST Monday to Friday.
Disclaimer Guild Trustee Services Pty Ltd. ABN 84 068 826 728. AFSL 233815 Trustee for Child Care Super Super (part of the Guild Retirement Fund) ABN 22 599 554 834. This document contains general advice only and doesn’t take into account what you currently have, want and need for your personal circumstances. It is important for you to consider these matters and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before you make a decision about a superannuation product, obtainable at guildsuper.com.au. Child Care Super’s Clearing House solution is provided by MercerSpectrum. MercerSpectrum and the online service are products issued by Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd ABN 83 068 908 912 ASFL 411980.
Training and Professional Development Long Day Care Professional Development Programme Funding Reminder
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ervices who were successful in applying for Long Day Care Professional Development Programme (LDCPDP) funding – bit.ly/ACANSW_LDCPDP – should have received an email from the Department of Education in the first week of March, advising them that Progress Report 1 for the LDCPDP must be submitted by 31 March 2015. This report should cover expenditure
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for the period ending 28 February 2015. A template Progress Report Form was made available 11 March 2015 on the MyChild website (bit.ly/ACANSW_ldcpdp_ progressreport1). If you have ten or more services, please request an alternate form (email ldcpdp@education.gov.au with the subject heading LDCPDP Progress Report Form - 10 or More Services) to expedite the process.
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Please note that submission of Progress Report 1 is required to receive the second payment due in June 2015. Even if you have not yet expended any LDCPDP funds, you must still submit the report indicating nil expenditure to ensure you are eligible to receive the second payment. Please monitor your emails closely to ensure you do not miss important updates from the LDCPDP team.
Training and Professional Development
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Training Calendar
e are pleased to report that our 2015 professional development program has gotten off to a great start, with a full calendar of workshops that commenced in late January, extending well until June, covering topics that include Yogaplay; Percussion Music Games; Movement Solutions Training; Continuous Improvement and Quality Improvement Planning; Including and Supporting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (presented with Aspect - Autism Spectrum Australia); Leadership; and – of particular importance in the age of social
media – Privacy Legislation, Social Media and Bulling in the Work Place. While we are happy to provide printed copies of our Training Calendar to members upon request, we are constantly announcing new venues, trainers and workshops in response to yoursuggestions and feeback, so we encourage you to check our online version regularly. We include links to a downloadable version of the most recently updated Training Calendar on our website, as well as in our Weekly Update. The Weekly Update also links directly to the workshop registration page.
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ustralian Childcare Alliance New South Wales offers webinars as an affordable alternative to face-to-face methods for training and education. They are particularly useful for regional members. Webinars provide the same opportunities as attending a workshop without having to leave your service or home. In addition, webinars are recorded so that they may be purchased after the event, should no workshop or webinar prove convenient. When you participate in a live webinar, you do so by connecting to the webinar via computer, iPad or iPhone. You will view the presenter’s slides and hear the presentation
Webinars in real time. You will also have the ability to interact with the trainer through an online chat window. If you cannot ‘attend’ a webinar, that is, connect to it online while it is happening, you may purchase a recording of it any time afterwards. The recorded webinar contains the presenter’s spoken presentation, accompanied by the slide show and any notes that were provided at the time of recording the webinar for the discount member price of just $55 ($85 for non-members). We’re in the process of programming a range of webinars for later this year. However, we currently has four webinars available to
purchase from 2014: • Meaningful Documentation and Effective Planning For Learning 1; • Meaningful Documentation and Effective Planning For Learning 2; • School Transition: Ready Schools, Ready Children, Ready Families • The Rewards and Challenges of an Educational Leader For more information regarding these webinars, please visit bit.ly/CCNSW_webinars. We also have a number of webinars recorded in 2013 that are for sale. Details of these webinars may be found in the 2015 Training Calendar.
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Online training
s members would be aware, Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales partners with TAFE NSW Open Training and Education Network (OTEN) in offering discounted online training on the following units of study: • Online Child Protection • Sustainability • Cultural Competence • Working Effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People We are pleased to confirm that we now also offer a range of additional training options with OTEN, including: • Identify and Respond to Children at Risk IN-SERVICE • Emergency First Aid Response in an Education and Care Setting IN-SERVICE • Emergency First Aid Response in an Education and Care Setting – Distance Learning with a 1-Day Training Session • Bridging 12 Units from CHC08 to CHC13 in Children’s Services as a pathway to the new Diploma in Education and Care • Develop Teams & Individuals
• Promote Team Effectiveness • Show Leadership in the Workplace See the 2015 Training Calendar – downloadable from the Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales website: www.nsw. childcarealliance.org.au.
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Tony Harris/Wombat Stories
Wherefore Art Thou, Wombat? Words + Pictures: Dom Romeo
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f you’ve never met him, Tony Harris is the affable grandfatherly dude fronting the display of the Wombat… series of children’s books at fairs and early childhood conference. He’s the kind of guy who is so easy to talk to, you might think you have him sussed pretty much from the get-go. Fact is, unless you have had a good chat with him, you won’t know just how many strings he has to his bow: certainly, he has a passion for literacy that has seen him pen several children’s books, which he’s taken around the world. But did you know he’s also an engineer and a self-taught computer whiz, not to mention a tireless community worker who’s introduced computer labs and aquaponic projects to communities around the world? Turns out the proverb, that ‘child is the father to the man’, is utterly true of Tony: the passions that drive him and skills he excels in have their seeds in his early childhood.
Child’s Play
“There was always something being built when I was a kid,” Tony confirms during our long chat in his Newcastle lounge room. But more than merely the mandatory go-karts and robots that feature in the childhood of everyone of Tony’s vintage, Tony and his dad built far more elaborate contraptions. “If there wasn’t a lawn mower being torn apart and put back together in some other fashion, it was a washing machine being stripped down and made into a saw,” Tony recalls. “We put a huge blade on a washing machine motor and made a power saw.” Tony’s dad, a fitter-and-turner by trade, did much of his bonding with young Tony while tinkering – often on the cars he happened to collect. Tony was giving his dad a hand pretty much as soon as he could walk. One time, he says, his dad called for a five-eighths spanner from somewhere beneath a car. “I took him a half-inch spanner by mistake. I was two years old at the time. Naturally, the neighbours thought it was hilarious that a two-year-old was getting yelled at for bringing the half-inch spanner when it should have been a five-eighths!” Tony laughs. “I’ve been tinkering with tools ever since.”
Book Learning
Tony’s love of literature likewise dates back to childhood, when he “spent a massive amount of time in hospital” from around age eight. “I tripped down a set of concrete stairs and shattered my kneecap,” he says. “I was in a plaster cast for 18 months.” You had limited options, being bed-ridden, back in those predigital days: hand-held personal entertainment devices consisted solely of books. Which was fine with Tony. “By the time I was ten, I’d read all of Shakespeare, all of Dickens, all of Robert Louis-Stephenson’s work,” he says. After the cast came off, the limp that was
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Tony Harris reads one of his Wombat Stories to children at Cardiff Busy Bees Preschool
supposed to plague Tony for the rest of his life was dealt with by his mum. Ignoring the doctors, she took him to Horseshoe Beach every afternoon, making him “walk backwards and forwards in the water for hours” thus ensuring a limp-free future full of walking and cycling. After several operations, the complete works of several literary masters and the intense proto-hydrotherapy, Tony returned to school. Where, it transpired, his passion for literature got him busted. “We had to write something, and I re-wrote the last chapter of Treasure Island because I didn’t like the way Robert LouisStephenson had ended the book. I got into trouble for rewriting a classic!” Literature proved not to be Tony’s first choice of career ultimately, however.
my ‘certificate’, as it was known back then,” Tony says. At the end of four years, he opted for further studies with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geography, at the University of New South Wales – “something completely different”. And still, Tony wasn’t finished learning. “After that I went to the University of Technology in Sydney and did a degree in Mechanical Engineering as well.” Why the constant quest for knowledge? “That’s the fun bit,” Tony says: “to ‘know’ all the stuff – because I did lots of different jobs.” Indeed. Tony’s various vocations include drover, farmer, mechanical engineer, mechanic, fitter and turner, production engineer, quality engineer and supervisor, production line designer.… He’s designed cars (the Holden Camira’s front-end suspension is his work), robots and aeroplanes, “all of which Hard Yakka have been built.” “My dad died just before my seventeenth Tony also went on to instruct others – birthday,” says Tony. “We needed an income for lecturing at engineering conferences; teaching the family.” While Tony’s mum “went back to about quality control, software management school to learn how to become a teacher” so she and project management; consulting to small could provide for the family, Tony chipped in, business and large corporations. In fact, long taking on an after-school job. “I was the floor before composing literature for children, he cleaner, temp and general dogsbody at Hunter was writing books on Basic programming for Wire Screens on Macquarie Road, Warners Bay,” the first home computers – the Vic-20 and he says, “doing anything I could get my hands on Commodore-64 as well as the original ‘green to draw an income to donate to my mum”. screen’ Apple IIE and beyond. After school, Tony was offered an “I had one of the first colour screens in apprenticeship with Stewart & Lloyds, the firm Australia, so I got it to draw. I wrote books that had employed his father. “I also completed about programming that would allow people
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Giving Back
Tony has been volunteering at his church group for so long, some of his current Sunday School kids are the grandchildren of Sunday School kids he first taught 40-odd years ago. His community work overseas began as an extension of his fellowship work, combined with his love of computer programming. “I was invited to Africa by a Baptist group to teach ministers how to use computers,” he says. “I also taught sequel server programming to university students in the Philippines for free. I turn up, book a room and teach them, bringing them up to speed.” These undertakings began simply as favours to friends. Tony has also worked in Samoa and Fiji, supported work in Vanuatu, and been to India to teach English and social skills. More recently, the social work has become more involved, and more fundamental to
the community. While in Africa, instructing students in word processing, spreadsheets and computer networking, Tony became acutely aware of food security issues. “In Kenya they grow a lot of cash crops,” Tony says, “but I saw a lot of people having to buy staples like tomatoes, beans and peas imported from outside of Kenya.” Certain there had to be a better way of producing food in small areas, Tony researched aquaponics, creating aquaponic systems currently used in Papua New Guinea and soon to be implemented in Africa, the Philippines and outback Australia.” “Aquaponics may be looked upon as a ‘hippy’ thing, but is a very clever piece of work,” according to Tony. It reduces dependence on fossil fuels, for starters. “Food is transported by vehicles; ground is ploughed by tractors, which also harvests the food, which then has to go through processing. Whereas, if you’ve got a couple of metres in the backyard, with aquaponics you can grow enough food for four people for a year, easy. If you set it up with a solar panel, there is no fossil fuel use.” Impressive stuff – and we still haven’t gotten to the Wombat books.
The Wombat in History
“I wrote the first Wombat book – There’s a Wombat in My Bed – 22 years ago now,” Tony says. “When my little girl, Joanna, was five years old she came running into our room
one morning, yelling, ‘Daddy, daddy, there’s a wombat in my bed,’ and raced off. I thought, ‘What is going on here?’” Heading to her room to investigate, Tony discovered exactly what was going on: on the bed, underneath the covers, was not a wombat, but a five-year-old girl, “giggling with glee, the whole bed shaking because she was being the wombat, hiding under the blanket.” Of course, Tony says, “what you do with a five-year-old is, you go along with the story”. But what made it special was that he chose to make the story rhyme: There’s a wombat in my bed and he’s got a furry head. He has four paws and they’ve all got claws. There’s a wombat in my bed. And the game was afoot: Joanna tearing through the house, demanding to know what animal was present in each room. “She’d race to the bathroom: ‘What’s in the bath? What’s in the bath?’ I had to think what would be in the bath.” It was a platypus, of course: There’s a platypus in my bath. Do you know he makes me laugh? “We just made up the rhymes from there. It was so much fun.” Realising he was onto a good thing, Tony decided that once he had sufficient animal rhymes, they’d make a good book. “We printed fifteen thousand copies,” he
Tony Harris/Wombat Stories
to create kaleidoscopes and line art”. The interest in computing began with simple curiosity. “It was fascinating to me that you could create something out of nothing. Literally. So I taught myself to write programs.” By applying this programming, Tony ended up writing software for robots at the General Motors and Ford motor car factories, as well as “the first quality control software in Australia” for National Springs. “It was used by all of the car manufacturers for ten years,” he says.
No more cheques? Don’t panic! Time is running out for your business to arrange a clearing house and comply with the law. We can help you with simple administration and payment solutions, designed for your industry. We’ll make super simpler so you have more time to manage your business. The 30 June deadline is fast approaching Let us help you avoid any ATO administrative penalties
1300 365 899 corporatesupport@guildsuperservices.com.au
Guild Trustee Services Pty Limited. ABN 068 826 728. AFS Licence No. 233815. RSE Licence No. L0000611 as Trustee for Child Care Super. Fund Registartion No. R1000030 ABN 22 599 554 834, Child Care Super’s Clearing House solution is provided by MercerSpectrum. MercerSpectrum and the online service are products issued by Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd ABN 83 068 908 912 AFSL 411980. Before deciding about any financial product you should consider the relevant PDS obtainable by calling Child Care Super on 1300 365 899. Trustee for Child Care Super (part of the Guild Retirement Fund) ABN 22 599 554 834 is Guild Trustee Services Pty Ltd. ABN 84 068 826 728. AFSL 233815.
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Tony Harris/Wombat Stories
says. “I put everything I had on the line for that. People thought I was mad.” While five thousand copies were donated to the John Hunter Children’s Hospital cancer clinic, the remaining ten thousand were sold to private buyers around Australia. Tony appeared on television and radio, with the book appearing in appropriate places like Playschool. “We made all the money back,” Tony reports. “Then it petered out.” Part of the reason it ‘petered out’ was because there weren’t enough resources and finances to do more with it at the time. “We thought of making it an interactive game on a CD-ROM but it would have cost a quarter of a million dollars – a huge amount of money,” Tony says. “So I thought, ‘okay, that was a chapter in my life; now I’ll move on’.”
him to start running eBook development courses for them. In the process of doing so, Tony was introduced to David Perrin, CEO of the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation – a relationship that resulted in Tony being invited to attend the World Literacy Summit in Oxford as a Guest Speaker. He went down a
All Roads Lead to Wombat
Tony may have moved on; the wombat didn’t. “I continued writing and developing software, but there were occasions – and this happened Tony Harris with more than once – where I would attend the Hon Sussan Ley, former meetings, and halfway through, someone Assistant Minister for Education would go, ‘Tony Harris…? Did you write a book about a wombat?’” What made Tony return to the wombat, however, were a series of more recent treat, people wanting to read his books. experiences, teaching English around the “I spoke on how to write for children,” world in places like New Zealand, Samoa and Tony says. “It’s down to rhythm, line, India. “I saw a massive need for English to be repetition, alliteration, consonation, taught, and it is being taught, but it seemed substitution and comparison. That’s it. If you people were learning it the hard way,” he says. look at Shakespeare’s work, that’s exactly The hard way to learn English, Tony says, what he does.” He offers an example: “Romeo, is to be taught theory that you never get to put Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” into practice. Whereas, the best way to learn However, some delegates were initially English is to use it, repeatedly and frequently. dubious on account of the specific Aussieness “I saw that there was a need, and I of the animals through There’s a Wombat in My saw that people liked the idea of rhythm, Bed. Some delegates were somewhat dubious. line, repetition, alliteration, consonation, “People from the University of Barbados said, substitution and comparison,” Tony says. In ‘This won’t work in the Caribbean; we don’t other words, the book he happened to write for his daughter turns out to be an excellent way to learn how English works through practise. It was this that led Tony to “start putting it all together again”. In addition to reprinting the original, he wrote five more. And this time, interactive games that engaged the reader weren’t beyond financial and practical reach. The internet and eBooks do what CD-ROMs used to do, but do so far more easily and affordably. However, this time round Tony discovered he had still more skills at Emily Chapman, Tony Harris and Australian his disposal. Heading to New York to Childcare Alliance New South Wales Executive attend a digital publishers’ forum to Committee member Vicki Skoulogenis learn more about eBook publishing, it turned out Tony had already gleaned more knowledge thus far than anyone could teach him. “I knew not only more than have any special animals!’” Tony reports. they did, but more than the general authoring Cleverly, Tony asked what animals they public,” he says. did have and, given a list of 18, spent twenty Sitting in on the Australian Society of minutes rattling off 18 silly rhymes. “After Authors’ courses back home, it once again another five minutes of tweaking and editing, I transpired that he was better informed than handed it over. They were blown away; they’re the organisers – so much so they invited taking the content of how I did that back to the
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university to teach their teachers how to make up educational rhymes about their own area.”
Teaching Aid
There’s a Wombat in My Bed is also being used to teach English all over the world. “I’m told there are adult classes in Beijing that are using the rhyming books for pronunciation,” Tony says. “The Wombat stories are in 32 different countries. I haven’t created outlets in those countries; people here in Australia have seen them and loved them; they’ve sent copies to friends all over the world. Or friends from overseas have been here and seen them, gone back home and ordered them.” Tony’s fulfilled orders to the UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Canada, Argentina, Bolivia, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the US… Which is impressive, but the best story is this one: some people in Newcastle are using the books in speech therapy for trauma patients, particularly victims of stroke. “Apparently the rhythm and the rhyme gives people in stroke recovery a way to create a rhythm in their body and come out of it,” Tony says. “There was one lady there who hadn’t made a sound in two years and when she was read the book, she laughed for the first time. It’s an astonishing story.” What Tony treasures the most is the passing on of knowledge. “I just love people to learn,” he says. “When somebody finally gets it, there’s a light that goes on in their eyes that says, ‘I know, I understand; isn’t it wonderful!’ That to me is a fantastic reward.”
Where’s a Wombat Next?
Since the World Literacy Summit, Tony has been appointed Chairman of the Committee for the Digital Literacy Hub for the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation. His website, www. wombatstories.com.au has been given a re-design with more inter-activity that ever before. In addition to the five new titles, there is even talk of an animated feature. “The good one for that would be Wombat’s Walkabout because he goes to all the different locations in Australia – those beautiful landscapes we can build: the Three Sisters, Uluru, Katherine Gorge, Great Barrier Reef, Snowy Mountains… you could do lots of stuff with it.” Although, there’s no time to do anything with it just yet. As we go to press, Tony is on his own walkabout. Overseas. To a place he’s never been before: the Himalayas. He says it’s a holiday, but you know by the time he’s returned, Tony will have probably sold his books into new territories, embarked upon additional community-building aquacultural projects, and, most importantly, enabled a multitude of people to learn. Tony Harris is a proud Bronze Sponsor of Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales. Visit www.wombatstories.com.au to purchase copies of his books.
Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales gratefully acknowledges the support of partners and supplier members.
Supplier Member Directory / In Memoriam
Supplier Member Directory In Memoriam
INSURANCE Guild Insurance
guildinsurance.com.au/business-insurance/childcare
SUPERANNUATION Child Care Super
childcaresuper.com.au
CLEANING / CENTRE CONSUMABLES Tiddox Disposables
1300 843 369
tiddox.com.au
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BRONZER SPONSO
Wombat Stories
Bellbird Kid-Z
wombatestories.com.au
1300 365 268
bellbirdkidz.com.au
FINANCE / PAYMENT Indue
1300 433 248
indue.com.au
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE BRONZER SPONSO
QK Technologies
1300 367 770
www2.qktech.com. au/ACANSW
PROPERTY / PREMISES CONSULTANCY GOLD R SPONSO
Childcare Concepts Robertson & Robertson
612 9613 0762
childcareconcepts. com.au
612 4351 2200
randr.com.au
STAFFING / RECRUITMENT GOLD R SPONSO
Buzz Childcare Recruitment
Warren Gibb It is with a heavy heart that I write with the sad news of the passing of our dear colleague and friend Warren Gibb, from Little Sails Preschool. Warren sadly passed away on Friday 13th of February at Calvary Hospital after a courageous battle with cancer. For approximately twelve months Warren has been dealing with cancer but was adamant about not being defined by it or its consequences and was so courageous in dealing with his illness. He always remained positive about his future and dedicated to his family, Little Sails Preschool and the other various roles he undertook. Warren will be very much missed as a teacher, mentor, colleague, friend and father. His dedication to the industry was shown in the many roles he took on, including the founding of the Child Care Network in Sutherland Shire. He was an inspiration to all of us. We will continue to hold him in our hearts and value his varied contributions to care and education. We will also remember his relaxed and easy going personality and all his efforts to keep meetings on track! Our deep condolences and thoughts go to Warren’s daughter Kelly, director of Little Sails Preschool. We will all miss you Waz…. Megan Edwards, Director Heathcoate Sunshine Kids
612 8437 5200 buzzrecruitment.com.au
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Raising the bar for early childhood educators
Every child deserves a champion
We want to challenge the way you perceive recruitment in this industry. Not all recruitment agencies are the same, and Buzz is determined to prove it. For starters, world domination isn’t on our agenda. We are a boutique, specialist agency and that’s just the way we like it! Our approach is a little different to the usual agency practice because we focus on quality not quantity. This allows us the time to focus on your specific needs and find the champion your children deserve. You’ll find we are a bunch of friendly and knowledgeable individuals who are dedicated to raising the standards when it comes to placing early childhood educators. 20
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We’re successful recruiters with previous experience as managers, educators, teachers and being a parent. When you talk to us you’ll realise that we can relate to both educators looking for work, as well as owners and directors managing a team and seeking the best quality educators for their children. Decide for yourself. Give the Buzz team a call.
02 8437 5200 info@buzzrecruitment.com.au buzzrecruitment.com.au