ACA Queensland President’s Report Welcome to the 2021 Early Edition Spring Issue! We hope all our members and early childhood educators across Australia had an incredible Early Childhood Educators’ Day with their team, children, and families! We would like to take this time to thank YOU for the difference you make every day to the children in your care and education. Your wonderful efforts in giving our young children the best start in life never go unnoticed. We would like to thank everyone who participated in this momentous day. It was wonderful to see the cheerful and heart-warming photos spread over social media in support of our incredible educators, teachers, and amazing early childhood support superstars – cooks, cleaners, and administration staff. We were delighted to see Early Childhood Educators’ Day receiving news coverage to help spread the word with a big thank you to ACA Qld Vice President Jae Fraser and The Scholars Group for help making this happen. It was fantastic to see all the support and involvement once again by early learning services, departments, and all sides and levels of government. We would like to thank Cargo Crew for once again providing us with this year’s incredible Early Childhood Educators’ Day merchandise, it was great to see many of you rocking these during the week. Planning for the ACA Qld 2022 National Conference is well underway. I encourage you to clear your calendars for the weekend of Friday 3 to Sunday 5 June 2022 for yet another incredible weekend of learning and networking. With other events in the early learning sector facing the unfortunate decision to postpone, we were lucky enough to hold the 2021 National Conference which was another success thanks to the stand-out presenters, exhibitors, and of course costumes! Thank you once again to the ACA Qld committee and
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team for organising such an amazing event and we can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store. We have continued to meet with the Department of Education on many issues, including the end of the transitional arrangements for ECTs on 31 December. We welcomed the clarifications made recently by the Regulatory Authority and are eagerly awaiting clarification from the section of the Department that manages QKFS funding. We are confident there will be some welcome measures to mitigate the impact of the 31 December changes. Also, on the subject of ACA Qld’s advocacy, over the last few weeks, our CEO Kate Tully and I have met with several Members of Parliament, particularly about funding issues and workforce shortages. These include Hon Di Farmer, Minister for Employment & Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development, Senator Susan McDonald (Senator for Queensland) and Mr. Garth Hamilton MP (Federal Member for Groom). Our AGM is on 18 October 2021. (Yes, I know we just had one in February, but that was the postponed 2020 AGM!). Multiple Management Committee positions will be vacated, with some current members standing for re-election while others will retire. If you’re interested in nominating for a position, look out for the Call for Nominations which will come out later in September. We are also proposing a number of amendments to the Rules to ensure they are contemporary and reflective of the way we manage ACA Qld. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to colleagues and early learning services in NSW and Victoria who are doing it tough with the current lockdown restrictions down south. Please stay tuned for the latest advice from ACA Qld if we are to face any further
restrictions in the future. Please be assured that ACA National is in continuous communication with the federal government to ensure viability in our sector. Have you ordered your ACA Qld 2022 Diary yet? What are you waiting for! Only $22.50 for members and $32.50 for others, the ACA Qld Diary is made by the sector for the sector and is the Diary for everyone operating in an early learning service. A reminder that ACA Qld members must be signed into the ACA Qld website to receive member rates. You can order your copy by visiting the ACA Qld Shop qld.childcarealliance.org.au/shop. Lastly, I would like to thank the committee past and present for the last five years of my time as ACA Qld President. It has been an amazing opportunity to be a part of such an incredible team and to support and advocate on behalf of all ACA Qld members.
Majella Fitzsimmons ACA Qld President
