April 2021
The change of season is here so enjoy getting out and about in this lovely mild weather.
New Enrolment Process
As per an email sent to you all on the 7th April 2021, we will no longer be putting enrolments on the system without receiving all required documentation (as per the checklist that has been added to page 5 of the enrolment form) first. This will include pages 1-5 of the enrolment form (ensuring both parties have signed & dated), a current version (dated within 2 months of the enrolment date) of the Medicare IHS, parent authority for excursions and Ed Assistants (if applicable), any medical or action plans or court orders. We understand a lot of Educators prefer getting the additional forms signed on the child’s first day of care so as not to inundate parents with too much paperwork to start with, however due to the follow up process being so lengthy when we do not receive the additional documentation, we have had to make this decision to avoid missing any important paperwork.
Security & PIN’s
Please note this information has been shared in the parent / service newsletter in regard to not sharing PIN’s with Educators – never ask parents for their PIN’s – it is potential fraud. “It is important to remember when you are issued a PIN, or your partner or your authority to collect contacts are issued PIN’s, that those are for the use of the person they are issued to only. These MUST NOT be shared with anyone, INCLUDING your Educator. If someone else has access to your PIN and is using it on your behalf, this is deemed as fraudulent activity.”
Policy Reviews
We are continually reviewing our policies to ensure that they are up to date and relevant. Over the last few months, we have reviewed quite a few and we are planning to distribute these on the next round of visits. We have decided that the next 4 policies that we will be reviewing will be:
• Interactions with Children Policy # 2
• Medical Conditions Policy # 3
• Grievance and Complaints Policy # 8
• Positive Guidance Behavior Policy # 13
If you would like to be a part of the review of these policies, please send your comment to sue@naturealliancefdc.com.au
Parent Authorisations for Excursions
As most emergency evacuation practices require the Educator to leave the registered FDC premises we do require that you have an Emergency Evacuation Risk Assessment in place. Parents should be aware of this Risk Assessment and a copy must be available for them to sight if requested.
As you are leaving the registered premises it is a requirement that parents sign the Parent Authorisation for this to occur. We have updated our master copy of the Parent Authorisations for Excursions/Regular Outings & Benefit Risk Assessments to include this as a constant. Please ensure that this document is completed by each family and accompanies any new enrolments. When parents are dating these forms, please ensure that are not blanket signed and the year is included in the date.
Updated Templates
The Enrolment Template for families has been updated. You can choose to use either the PDF Version, which can be printed out and written on, or the Electronic Version, which can be completed online. Children’s Activity Benefit Risk Assessment , Excursion / Incursion Risk Assessment and Transport Risk Assessment templates have also been updated.
Don’t panic, this does not mean that you have to update to the new version. All that Jo has done is make the Word document easier to work with, the rest of the content is the same as is the version number. Please let Jo know if you have any issues editing the document because we are trying something new!
Using Harmony for Programming
Harmony have now included a programming section to their electronic platform. This is available to all Educators to access. There are Tip Sheets available in the support area of Harmony. If you are currently using an electronic programming platform or you have been considering changing to one, this might be worth looking at. We understand that all Educators with Nature Alliance were sent information from Harmony on the 5th March.
Welcomes
We have had three Educators commence with us this month. We would like to welcome Natalie Chadwick in Greenmount, Leith Blackman in Chidlow and Nikki Bombak in Golden Bay.
Changes to Charges
As discussed at the recent Educator meeting our annual membership and levy will increase from Monday 5th July 2021. The levy will increase by 10 cents to $1.40 per child per hour and the Nature Alliance Annual Membership will increase to $350.00 per year. The increase in membership is due to Harmony’s increase in fees by 50%. Nature Alliance will continue to pay the $3.30 per week per Educator for the administration component of the Harmony fees.
Parent Surveys
As a part of our commitment to developing communication with families and to gain insights into what is working successfully, we do send electronic surveys to families on a regular basis. At a recent staff meeting it was discussed that we do not receive a lot of these back and maybe it is because the format that we send them in is not user friendly.
So, we have decided to format these as a Survey Monkey. Jo has been working on this and we plan that the next lot of surveys will be sent in this format and we will receive many more responses. As always, any responses we receive will be shared with the relevant Educator.
After a recent staff meeting, we have also decided to recommence the initial phone surveys that we have previously done. After trialing these for two months and not having a lot of success in contacting parents we have decided to stop these and rely on the newly developed survey format.
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 Beryl or Sue and if your call is not answered immediately leave a message and they will call you back.
Phone Numbers:
Kylie: 0431 449 567 (Mon–Thurs); Nadia: 0431 449 567 (Wed-Fri); Joy: 0429 030 362 (Mon – Wed, Fri); Jo: 0477 029 132 (Mon–Thurs); Lea: 0477 029 228 (Tue-Fri); Sue: 0477 029 254 or Beryl: 0477 029 253.
To ensure that we respond to your emails promptly please send your queries to: info@naturealliancefdc.com.au
“Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.”