Recent updates

• 17 March – The Commonwealth Government will provide a one-off $10,000 payment to early childhood education and care (ECEC) services affected by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
  
• 17 March – An email was sent to all services, providers and nominated supervisors with information and resources: Early childhood education and care update.
• 14 March – The Commonwealth Government has extended the period of emergency until 18 March. Read more about support during a CCS period of emergency.
• 11 March – An email was sent to closed services in impacted areas: Notification requirements following Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Stay informed

• SES – publishes current warnings and provides information and advice about staying safe in a flood.
• Bureau of Meteorology website – for up-to-date information about the weather in your area.
• Hazards near me app – provides current and local information.
• Live Traffic – find incidents along a route by entering an origin and destination.

Service closures and notifications

Services are required to notify the department of any closures, incidents, evacuations, or damage to premises. While the regulations require this to be done within 24 hours, services should ensure the safety of children, educators and staff as a first priority. The approved provider is responsible for deciding whether or not a service should close. For more information on service closures in an emergency, visit our website.

If you are unable to lodge a notification for any reason, call our Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 or email ececd@det.nsw.edu.au for assistance.

Emergency supplies

The NSW Department of Education is working to have a stock ready of emergency supplies for schools and ECEC services who are impacted, including gloves, paper towels, pump soap, tissues, toilet paper, bottled water and personal insect repellents as part of our efforts for recovery.

To access this assistance, please call us on 1800 619 113 or email ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.

Temporary waivers

Centre-based and Family Day Care services affected by the current emergency can apply for a temporary waiver. The NSW ECEC Regulatory Authority can grant temporary waivers for:

• physical environment, for example, indoor space or outdoor space requirements
• staffing, for example, ratios or educator qualifications.

Waivers related to emergencies are considered on a case-by-case basis and are fast-tracked.

The NSW ECEC Regulatory Authority will consider the period of time a waiver is granted so services don't have to reapply each day they cannot meet the requirements.

To apply for a waiver:

• Submit an application in NQA ITS (SA08 Application of service or temporary waiver). Select the temporary waiver option.
• Select the regulation you are applying to waive.
• Pay the fee – fees for these applications will be waived or refunded if they are linked to a current emergency.

Services who are unable to NQA ITS (due to access to the internet or their devices) can call our Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 to assist.

Refer to our Get Regulatory Support webpage for more information.

Communication with families

If your service or community has been or will be impacted, it is important to keep families informed about your service’s circumstances. The below templates can be used to support your communications, if required:

Handy links

• Emergency planning, management, response and recovery – find resources and templates for services.
• Flood planning for ECEC services (PDF 159 KB) – we have developed a resource to give further information about appropriate flood preparation and response.
• The Commonwealth Government has declared a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) period of emergency in parts of NSW due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Read more about support during a CCS period of emergency.
• School operational status – find up to date information on schools that have temporarily ceased operations.
• Keep up to date with recovery updates from the NSW Government

Mental health and wellbeing support

We have a range of resources available to support children, families and educators. You can access these on our Mental health and wellbeing resources page.

The NSW Department of Education has extended the support of our EAP provider, TELUS Health, to ECEC services impacted by the current severe weather conditions. Service staff and their immediate family members can access support by calling TELUS Health directly on 1800 951 198 and:

1. stating you are from the NSW Department of Education
2. stating that you (or your family member) are employed at an impacted ECEC service
3. stating the name of the ECEC service you are from.

You can also visit TELUS Health’s natural disaster support page.

For more information

For advice and help, please contact us by calling 1800 619 113 or emailing ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.