Respond
How early childhood education and care services and outside school hours care services can respond to emergencies and natural disasters, such as bushfires, floods and storms.
Stay informed
Services should monitor local conditions and emergency incidents, and always follow the directions of local emergency services.
Fire emergencies: up-to-date information can be found on the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) website or the Hazards Near Me app. Look out for text messages from fire authorities. A ‘Watch Zone’ can be set up to monitor a local area.
Flood and storm emergencies: up-to-date information can be found on the NSW State Emergency Service website or the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology website.
Find incidents along a route by entering an origin and destination on the Live TrafficExternal link.
Monitor your local ABC Radio station to stay up to date on local emergencies near you.
Access links and resources to assist your service before and during an emergency on the NSW Government Emergency webpage.
Services should outline how they will monitor bushfires, floods and other potential emergencies in their communication plan as part of their emergency management plan. For more information, please see our links to relevant resources and our sample communication plan template.
Thick smoke and ash can travel a significant distance from bushfires. It is important that services monitor children for smoke irritation. Symptoms can include:
itchy/burning eyes
runny nose
shortness of breath/headaches
irritated sinuses
throat irritation
coughing.
The department encourages all services to access guidance on smoke irritation and maintaining health during bushfires provided by NSW RFS and NSW Department of Health.
The NSW Department of Planning and Environment provide current air quality ratings that you may wish to monitor and incorporate in your emergency planning.
Minimise the risk of asthma and respiratory problems by keeping children indoors. Ensure asthma action plans and medications are readily accessible and incorporated in your emergency management plans as necessary.
Regulatory support: service closures, notifications and waivers
The approved provider is responsible for deciding whether or not a service should close.
We recommend monitoring our list of non-operational schools to find up to date information on schools in your area that have temporarily closed.
If your service is located on a school site that will be temporarily closed, please consider closing your service.
If you intend to close your service, for example on days forecasted to have an elevated risk of emergencies, you should consider advising local emergency services of this intention.
Conditions or triggers that may require you to temporarily cease operations should be outlined in your emergency plans and procedures.
The department does not publish a list of service closures. However, you can find service and temporary closure information on the ACECQA website.
Services are required to notify the department of any closures, incidents, evacuations or damage to premises. You can notify through NQA ITS.
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.
If you have lost paper or electronic records from your service as a result of a natural disaster or emergency and these are not retrievable, please advise us as part of your notification.
If you’d like to notify the department of further details about the same incident, click on your original notification to ‘edit’ it. Update the details and ‘save’. This could include adding additional documentation as attachments.
Please update your original notification if your service is closed on multiple days as a result of an emergency.
Please also update the re-open date in your original notification to let us know when you’ve reopened.
Submit a new notification if you are notifying the department of a different incident
Please see the department's Notifications and Reporting page for more information.
For additional advice and assistance lodging a waiver, temporary relocation or temporary increase to maximum numbers application, please contact the department by calling 1800 619 113 or email ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.
If you’ve been impacted by a natural disaster or emergency and need to temporarily relocate, apply for a waiver or increase maximum number of children in your service.
Centre-based and Family Day Care services affected by bushfires, floods or other emergencies can apply for a temporary waiver. The NSW 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
only open to services in clear need, and as long as there’s no increased risk to children’s safety
fast-tracked.
The NSW Regulatory Authority will consider the period of time a waiver is granted so services don't have to reapply each day they don't 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 may be refunded if they are linked to a current emergency.
If your service premises are damaged or affected by bushfires, floods or other emergencies, you can apply for a temporary relocation of your service.
Temporary relocation applications relating to emergencies are considered on a case-by-case basis and will be expedited.
To apply for temporary relocation:
Submit an application in NQA ITS (SA01 Application for service approval – centre based).
Pay the fee – fees for these applications may be refunded if they are linked to a current emergency.
Submit the required documents for a temporary relocation application (refer to regulation 25A).
Notify the department on completion of the works, as the renovated service premises will need to be reinstated, subject to a site visit.
Submit an application in NQAITS to surrender the service premises at the temporary relocation (SA07 Notification of Surrender of Service Approval).
In regions affected by bushfires, floods or other emergencies, services can apply to temporarily increase the maximum number of children who can be educated and cared by the service at any one time.
Applications to temporarily increase maximum numbers are:
considered on a case-by-case basis
only open to services in clear need, and as long as there’s no increased risk to children’s safety
fast-tracked – if related to a current emergency.
To apply for a temporary increase to maximum numbers:
Submit an application in NQA ITS (SA03 Application for amendment to service approval).
Pay the fee – fees for these applications may be refunded if they are linked to a current emergency.
Child Care Subsidy
During periods of emergency, the Australian Government Department of Education will declare impacted regions of NSW as a Local Area Emergency for the ECEC sector.
If your service is located in a region outlined on their Local Area Emergencies webpage, services and families can access more allowable absences and gap free waivers, and there is emergency support available.
You can find important information about this on their Help in an emergency webpage.
Families that are eligible for the Child Care Subsidy may also be eligible for the Temporary Financial Hardship Subsidy.
Supporting families
If your service or community has been or will be impacted by an emergency or natural disaster, it is important to keep families informed about your service’s circumstances.
You can find information and resources on our Supporting families webpage, including:
Communicating with families templates
Families finding alternative education and care
- Learning from home resources
- Starting Blocks ECEC finder.
Mental health and wellbeing support
Service NSW - offers a range of free mental health support including 24/7 telephone services.
Disaster recovery page - access a range of mental health and wellbeing resources for children, educators, families and the community.