In response to questions posed by the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, the NSW Department of Education's Acting Executive Director for the Early Childhood Education and Care Directorate has formally provided the following answers for ACA NSW members on 15 April 2020.
Application of Public Health guidelines on early childhood operations
| Q1: Is the NSW Regulatory Authority recommending a reduction of the number of children attending at the service in order to achieve the social distancing objectives of the NSW Government? |
| A1: The NSW Regulatory Authority is not prescribing a reduction in numbers. Services are best placed to put in place any strategies they need to in meeting Health guidelines. |
Compliance with Regulation 172(1) for notification of at least 14 days to families
| Q2: Given the tumultuous period resulting from COVID-19 and services' need to remain financially and operationally viable, what flexibility will the NSW Regulatory Authority provide in relation to approved providers' compliance with Regulation 172(1) where notification must be made at least 14 days prior to the service’s provision of education and care to any child, and the family’s ability to utilise the service? |
| A2: The National Regulations require that services have policies and procedures in place regarding enrolment and orientation. Services are generally required to notify parents at least 14 days before the Approved Provider makes any change to policies or procedures that may have a significant impact on the service’s provision of education and care to any child enrolled at the service or the family’s ability to utilise the service. This notice period can however be reduced if the Approved Provider considers that the notice period would pose a risk to the safety, health or wellbeing of any child enrolled at the service. Approved Providers may consider whether a shorter notice period may be needed to respond to the current pandemic. |
Compliance to First Aid qualification requirements
| Q3: As there is no guarantee that every First Aid training can be conducted on-line, will the NSW Regulatory Authority provide written and public assurance that every service will be forgiven and will not receive any financial penalties upon having made reasonable and genuine efforts to comply with Regulation 136 in respect of educators/teachers' First Aid qualifications? Can the NSW Department of Education emulate the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian's extensions and also offer a 6-month deferral of the requirements of Regulation 136? |
| A3: The NSW Regulatory Authority encourages services and providers to contact our Information and Enquiries team if they have questions that relate to circumstances at individual services. Services are supported on a case by case basis to meet the requirements of the National Quality Framework, including through waiver applications where appropriate. |
Compliance to routine Fire Equipment checks
| Q4: In light of the social distancing requirements for essential gatherings, are fire equipment checks still required or can they be deferred for 6 months? |
| A4: Education and Care services are expected to remain compliant with the many pieces of legislation that govern their operation, including requirements under Building legislation, Occupational Health and Safety legislation, Public Health legislation, etc. While the National Law and National Regulations do not specify the frequency at which fire equipment must be checked, the NSW RA expects services to ensure children’s health, safety and wellbeing are maintained at all times and that children are protected from harm and hazard. Should circumstances mean that checks of a service’s equipment cannot be undertaken, the NSW RA expects a service to undertake risk assessments and put in place appropriate risk minimisation strategies until such time as normal practice can be resumed. |
Waiver of fees to Long Daycare Services on NSW Department of Education grounds
| Q5: Will long daycare services on NSW Department of Education grounds receive a waiver of their rent for the months of April, May and June similar to Out-of-School-Hours-Care (OSHC) services? |
| A5: The licence fees for early childhood services located on public school site will be waived for term 2. Some information is available on the DoE website: https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families |
PUBLISHED: 15 APRIL 2020