Compliance focus: effective record keeping
Guidance on maintaining detailed, accurate records to meet your legislative obligations and support children’s safety and wellbeing.
03 October 2023
The content of this article was updated with the latest information on 7 July 2025 for the purpose of this compliance focus.
Strong record-keeping practices are essential to the operation and delivery of safe and high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children. Keeping accurate, complete and accessible records supports services to make informed decisions, manage and mitigate risks, drive continuous improvement, and increase transparency and accountability.
Effective record keeping is also key to maintaining compliance with the National Quality Framework (NQF).
Record-keeping obligations
Approved providers, nominated supervisors and family day care (FDC) educators must comply with all record-keeping requirements under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Law and Regulations).
This includes but is not limited to:
- section 175 of the National Law – offence relating to requirement to keep enrolment and other documents
- regulation 84C – risk assessment for sleep and rest policies and procedures
- regulation 87 – incident, injury, trauma and illness record
- regulation 102B–102F – transportation of children other than as part of an excursion
- regulation 145–152B – educator and staff records centre-based services
- regulation 153–154 – educator and staff records family day care services
- regulation 177–178 – types of enrolments and other prescribed documents that must be retained to support providers' compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements
- regulation 183 – secure storage for all records and documents related to an educational service, ensuring accessibility for authorised persons and confidentiality.
Services must ensure that all records are up to date, accurate and maintained in a secure and confidential manner. They must give parents access to records relating to their child or the service’s compliance record upon request.
All service records must be made available to authorised officers when requested.
Refer to Quality Area 7: Governance and leadership of ACECQA’s Guide to the National Quality Framework for guidance on record management requirements and best practice.
Record keeping and children’s safety
Effective record keeping plays a vital role in protecting children’s safety in ECEC services. Keeping accurate and timely records helps educators identify and respond to potential risks, patterns of concern, and ensure that every child’s needs are understood and met.
It also supports clear communication among staff and families, strengthens accountability, and ensures approved providers, services and staff are complying with regulatory requirements. This includes keeping accurate records of complaints and allegations, Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearances, staff qualifications, and child protection awareness and training.
Access ACECQA’s new NQF Child Safe Culture Guide for practical guidance and resources to strengthen your record-keeping practices and capability to safeguard children from harm. The guide builds on the NQF, National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and the Child Safe Standards.
Approved providers and services are also strongly encouraged to follow ACECQA’s best practice record keeping guidance (PDF 133 KB), which outlines legal requirements and best practice recommendations made in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Changes to the NQF have been announced. They include amendments to the Education and Care Services National Regulations, which will commence 1 September 2025. Notification timeframes for allegations or incidents of physical and sexual abuse will reduce to 24 hours down from 7 days under the new requirements.
Refinements to the National Quality Standard will come into effect 1 January 2026.
Visit ACECQA’s Child safety page for information and resources to help approved providers and services prepare for the changes.
Further resources to support child safety record-keeping requirements
- Child protection training requirements
- Embedding child safety into staff onboarding and induction
- Implementing the Child Safe Standards: A guide for early childhood education and outside school hours care services (PDF 7.5 MB)
- Responding to incidents, disclosures and suspicions of child abuse and harm (PDF 153 KB)
- Governance and Risk Management e-learning Program
- Preparing NQF policies and procedures, which includes information sheets on:
- staffing
- governance and management
- dealing with complaints
- providing a child safe environment
- incident, injury, trauma and illness.
- Sample forms and templates, which includes:
- prohibition notice declaration
- staff record
- compliance history statement template for a person to be a person in day-to-day charge or a nominated supervisor
- enrolment record
- incident, injury, trauma and illness record
- record of visitors to family day care residence or approved venue.
What records are you required to keep and for how long?
Child-related records are to be kept for 3 years after a child’s last day of attendance. This includes:
- child assessments or evaluations for delivery of the educational program (regulation 177(1)(a))
- medication records (regulation 92)
- children's attendance records (regulation 158–159)
- child enrolment records (regulation 160).
Longer retention periods apply in certain circumstances (regulation 183), such as records relating to:
- an incident, injury, trauma and illness suffered by a child, which must be kept until they are 25 years of age
- the death of a child while being educated and cared for, which must be kept until 7 years after their death.
The Royal Commission recommended that organisations engaged in child-related work retain records relating to child sexual abuse that has, or is alleged to have occurred, for at least 45 years.
Staff-related records are to be kept for 3 years from the from the day they ceased employment at the service. This includes:
- staff records
- record of volunteers and students
- records of the Responsible Person at the service
- a record of Responsible Persons placed in day-to-day charge of the education and care service
- record of educators working directly with children
- record of access to early childhood teachers
- record of the service's compliance with the law.
What needs to be included in child enrolment records?
One of the most important and comprehensive records your service is required to keep is enrolment records for children. Reviewing and updating your service’s enrolment forms should be done regularly to ensure your records meet the regulation requirements and also your families' requirements.
Regulation 160 provides details of what information your enrolment record must contain and includes:
- child’s full name, date of birth and address
- contact details for the child’s parents and for other persons as required
- authorisations as detailed in regulation 161
- health information as detailed in regulation 162
- information about any parenting orders, court orders, or parenting plans provided that relate to the child
- information about the language used in the child’s home, the cultural background of the child and their parents and any special considerations for the child for example cultural, religious, additional needs.
ACECQA has developed a child enrolment record template to support ECEC services to comply with the NQF.
Download the accompanying child enrolment records information sheet (PDF 639 KB) for further guidance.
Tips for effective record-keeping
- Find sample forms and templates to help your service meet its record-keeping requirements under the National Law and Regulations on the ACECQA website.
- Download templates developed by the OCG to support organisations be Working with Children Check (WWCC) compliant.
- Encourage staff to update their WWCC details to ensure they receive updates from the OCG about their WWCC clearance, including renewal reminders.
- Access more guidance in ACECQA’s information sheets on best practice record keeping (PDF 133 KB) and record keeping in family day care (PDF 891 KB).
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