DECEMBER 2024
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the incredible work you’ve done, the laughter we’ve shared and the milestones we’ve celebrated. You’ve juggled risk assessments, parent authorisations, Assessment and Rating, and everything in between – all while creating safe, nurturing, and inspiring environments for children to grow and thrive. This final newsletter is packed with updates, reminders and a little dose of inspiration to keep you energized as we wrap up 2024. Here’s to finishing the year strong and starting 2025 with renewed passion and purpose.
UPDATED FORMS AND NEW TEMPLATES
- NA-FRM-0003 Authority to Administer Medication Form has been updated to include a space for parents / guardians to sign at the end of the day, acknowledging that medication has been administered.
- NA-FRM-0018 Excursion Incursion Risk Assessment Plan has been updated 🙈 YOU DO NOT NEED TO REDO YOUR RISK ASSESSMENTS PLEASE. All we have done is remove the Vehicle Registration details so that if you do buy a new vehicle, you do not have to update all your risk assessments, only your Transport one. Please speak to your ESO if you need clarification on this change. All NEW risk assessments must be done on this version.
- Risk Considerations table has been updated to include additional information on various outings. You will find this to be an invaluable reference guide that will cut down time and amendments when completing Risk Assessments and assist with covering all the right risks. TIP. Think like a lawyer when you are completing these as this is the document that will be scrutinized after an incident.
- Parent Acknowledgement of New Risk Assessment (PANRA) is a new template that has been developed to save you the hassle of sending in multiple updated Parent Authorisations every time you add a new risk assessment. Parents sign the Parent Authorisation form as usual, then they sign the PANRA. Now you will only need to send the PANRA to your ESO once everyone has signed it. This shows us that the families have viewed the new risk assessment and that they have given their approval. YES, they still need to sign the original Parent Authorisation AND this new document which you will then send to your ESO. If you currently have another process that you follow, please speak to your ESO to discuss which option suits you better.
FAREWELL
This month we say goodbye to Grace in Kununurra. It was wonderful working with her and we wish her all the best in her new adventure! Sadly, we also say farewell to Maryse in Kalgoorlie after 7 years with Nature Alliance and wish her and Matt all the best in their own family business. We are also excited to announce that Tia in Kalgoorlie has had her third child and will be taking some time off. We would like to thank them for all their hard work during their membership with Nature Alliance Family Day Care Service.
SAYING GOODBYE TO OUR FAMILIES IN CARE
As the time passes some of our families move on and we have to say goodbye. Once families have decided on a date to finish please have them complete a Cancellation of Care form. This allows them to enter their bank details so that we can refund any amounts in credit and their initial Holding Fee.
This process may take a few weeks to finalise timesheets, payments, refund the Holding fee and inactivate children.
VISITORS TO THE FAMILY DAY CARE SERVICE
If you have any visitors staying at your service while children are in care, please email the office with the dates the visitor will be present. This is also a friendly reminder that all visitors must sign in and out of the Visitor’s Register during their stay.
For regular visitors – those who visit more than twice a week and stay for over two hours at a time (while children are in care) a Police Clearance and Working with Children Card will be required. If your visitor stays overnight more than twice a month, on an ongoing basis, they will need a Police Clearance and Working with Children Card. The same applies if your visitor stays with you for longer than two weeks.
Please ensure all required paperwork is submitted to the service BEFORE the visitor arrives. It’s also important that visitors understand the need to maintain a safe environment, including keeping their belongings out of children’s reach if necessary. We strongly encourage you to review NA-POL-0023 – Visitors to a FDC Residence before hosting any visitors. If you are unsure of what to do, please contact your ESO.
POTENTIAL INCREASE IN NATURE ALLIANCE LEVY
As you may be aware the Federal Government has introduced a Worker Retention Payment System, aimed at increasing ECE staff wages and retaining staff in the sector. This may impact on staff wages for Nature Alliance. At this stage there are grants available to assist with the increment, but these are only available to Long Day Care and OSHC. FDCA are still working with the government to see how this system is going to be implemented for FDC and the impact this will have on the service. Hopefully the levy won’t need to be increased until July.
YEAR END GATHERINGS
We have officially finished all our play sessions in the park and catch-up sessions at restaurants. We can’t thank you enough for being there. It was wonderful to be able to relax and have a good laugh with you all. We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather during all of our events and the Educators, Staff and Children all really seemed to enjoy it. We hope to do many more of these in 2025 and encourage those of you who couldn’t make it this year to be there the next time!
FESTIVE SEASON PAYMENT SCHEDULES
This year with the public holidays of Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years Day falling mid-week we don’t expect any changes to your normal Educator payment processing dates. However, we are expecting that Families’ collection dates will be affected with each Public holiday day pushing their payment schedule back a day so the two weeks may cross over creating confusion. It may be worth chatting to families about this as each declined payment is $8.70 and families’ budgets are already stretched at this time of year.
STAY SAFE THIS SUMMER
As warmer days approach, it’s a great time to reflect on your safety practices, especially around outdoor surfaces and equipment. Even on overcast days, surfaces can heat up enough to cause serious burns, and with children’s more sensitive skin, they’re particularly vulnerable. A simple, regular check of outdoor areas can make a big difference—and it’s also a valuable teaching moment for children about staying safe in the heat. Show the children how you feel the ground or surfaces and chat to them about why you are going this. If children are leaving your service at the end of the day remind them to put their shoes on so they don’t burn their feet in the driveway. This also prompts parents to consider this risk. Thank you for your ongoing dedication to creating safe environments and sharing your knowledge of risk with children and families.
EDUCATOR LEAVE
With the festive season fast approaching don’t forget to enter your holiday leave into Harmony. This triggers a notification to the admin team which allows us to record the leave in our diaries and on FDSee so your ESO doesn’t show up for a support visit while you are busy sunbaking and drinking margaritas. This also automatically cancels those sessions of care for the period you are away. Harmony has a simple Holiday Period tip sheet that can show you how to do this.
AGE GROUP TIMELINES FOR RATIOS
Children attending Pre-Primary in 2025 become part of your school aged Ratio from 1st January 2025. Children attending Secondary school in 2025 are no longer eligible for CCS from 5th February 2025. Using this Occupancy Chart may help over the hectic holiday period to assist with tracking children’s sessions, maximizing occupancy and avoiding over ratio bookings. In the case that your own children are being cared for offsite or by another responsible adult please Email a Responsible Adult form each week to assist us when we are counting ratios each week.
RISK ASSESSMENTS
Thank you to those Educators who have already sent in updated Sleep and Rest Risk Assessments. These risk assessments are required under Regulation 84C and the penalty for not having these in place and annually reviewed is $2000 😬.
Risk Assessments can now be sent directly to your North ESO’s (Jo G and Lea) or South ESO’s (Jo C and Joy) to reduce processing times.
A IS FOR AUNTY
This is a heartfelt and beautifully illustrated alphabet book by Elaine Russel. Each page explores a different letter of the alphabet, weaving together cultural significance and personal stories that resonate deeply with Australian history and identity. The book is a rich resource for early childhood educators, offering an opportunity to introduce children to Aboriginal perspectives in a relatable and engaging way. Educators can use A is for Aunty as a springboard for discussions about diversity, culture, and belonging. The text also provides ample inspiration for creative art activities, storytelling, and alphabet recognition games. Perfect for sparking meaningful conversations and encouraging a love for Australian stories!
INSPIRING READS (OR LISTENS)
If you’re after a quick uplifting read that will change your world The Energy Bus is available to listen to on Audible and Spotify or your local library if you prefer to read. It’s a 2-hour listen that can reset your perspective and elevate practice in your life and business. If you’re after a New Year reset give it a whirl and send us a thumbs up if you decide to jump on the Energy bus with us.
HI FROM BALDIVIS….
This month our focus Educator is April Paterson in Baldivis. 
April is a passionate Educator whose dedication shines in everything she does. She is deeply committed to the wellbeing of children and teaching them how to understand their own feelings and recognize their friend’s emotions. Empowering children is at the heart of her philosophy, and we love watching her encourage the children to embrace independence and to take pride in their achievements. Her super organized approach means that we always know where to find things when April is busy with the children! The children are consistently engaged in exciting and meaningful activities, and her warm, inviting environment fosters happiness and confidence. We especially love the creative photo booth April sets up for special days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, giving families a chance to make beautiful families together. It’s always wonderful visiting April and it’s such a pleasure to see the children thriving in her care.
WORD OF THE DAY
Kinship systems – A system that is an aspect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social organization. It is a complex system that determines the relationships, roles, responsibilities, and obligations to one another and includes ceremonial business around land, lore, births, marriages and deaths. There are different structures and relationships that are not necessarily biological and covers more than people. Kinship includes a connection to Country: animals, places, ancestors, weather systems and plants.
ACKNOWLEDGING YEARS OF SERVICE WITH NATURE ALLIANCE
We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible years of service by the following educators.
🌿 5 Years of Service 💚
💚 Jenni Costa – Collie
💚 Cassie Dennison – Busselton
💚 Lizzie Stanger – Kununurra
💚 Jen Napper – Mount Helena
💚 Lindsey Nunn – Broome
🌳 10 Years of Service 🎉
🌟 Caroline Boocock- Albany
🌟 Karen Macdonald – Albany
🌟 Kelly Monahan – Harrisdale
Thank you so much for your hard work, dedication, and the positive impact you have on children and families. For those of you trying to figure out when it’s your turn to be celebrated, here’s how we calculate the dates for the awards: they are based around Nature Alliance’s anniversary date which is 30th June annually. If you were registered after 30th June in your anniversary year, your 5- and 10- year awards will be acknowledged the following year. We present these awards towards the end of the year when we try and catch up with everyone. We look forward to celebrating these milestones each year!
OFFICE HOURS
Our office hours are 8.30am to 4.30pm. If you have a query outside of these hours, please phone and leave a message. If you need to speak with someone in an emergency, please ring Jo Georgiou and if your call is not answered immediately, leave a message and your call will be returned.
PHONE NUMBERS
Sandra / Mandy: 0431 449 567 (Mon – Fri); Joy: 0429 030 362 (Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri); Jo C: 0477 029 531 (Mon – Fri); Jo G: 0477 029 132 (Mon – Thurs); Lea: 0477 029 228 (Mon, Tue, Thurs & Fri). To ensure that we respond to your emails promptly please send your queries to: info@naturealliancefdc.com.au
“Motivation comes from working on things we care about!”
Sheryl Sandberg