Flexible care through casualised days

Community need

Families of children at Bright Stars Early Learning Centre (ELC) include healthcare professionals, trades people and others who, because of their irregular shifts, have a need for more flexible education and care options. The service is aware of this because they hear it from the parents and carers enrolled at their service. They have also surveyed the local community and identified the unmet need.

The proposal

Bright Stars ELC plans to apply and use Flexible Initiative Trial funding to implement a casualised day approach that will allow families to customise care hours to suit their changing schedules.

The plan

The team designs a plan to invest in rostering software, recruit and engage a new educator and administrative staff, provide training and development on the new casualised care, and implement and promote the new approach to local families. The trial program offering will run for a 12-month period to ensure the offering is sustainable and fit for purpose.

The budget

Grant application

The Bright Stars team submits a grant application outlining the above information. The application is assessed and is successful. They sign a funding agreement.

Implementation

Bright Stars ELC recruits and engages qualified educators and staff. They invest in state-of-the-art booking and rostering software and provide comprehensive training to ensure efficient management of flexible scheduling. The service utilises the additional educator as a ‘floater’ on the floor, allocated to maintain ratios and provide quality education and care where needed. The service also prioritises data collection, actively gathering feedback from families through surveys and personal conversations to understand their experiences.

Bright Stars promotes collaboration among staff to continuously refine the approach. Utilisation data guides resource allocation and scheduling optimisation, ensuring families’ needs are consistently met.

Outcomes

Parents experience a user-friendly interface and can book education and care according to their needs. The centre caters to families with irregular or casual work schedules and at the same time fosters an environment where children’s growth and learning thrive.

Extended hours of operation

Community need

Sunshine Valley Early Learning Centre (ELC) is close to a hospital. Many of the service’s existing families have requested more adaptable hours of education and care to support their varying schedules.

The proposal

The Sunshine Valley team plans to use a Flexible Initiatives Trial grant to expand their operating hours and offer families tailored care sessions for their children.

The plan

The plan involves extending the opening hours of the service. Grant funding will be sought to hire staff to cover the additional operating hours. Funds will also be used to train staff to ensure that they can integrate seamlessly and effectively into the extended hours rostering system and maintain consistent service quality.

The budget

Grant application

The Sunshine Valley team submits a grant application with the above information. The application is assessed and is successful. They sign a funding agreement.

Implementation

With a focus on building their team of ECEC educators and administrators, Sunshine Valley ELC attracts new staff driven by a commitment to quality education and care and supporting diverse family needs.

To ensure families are aware of the new flexible options, they promote their extended hours through school newsletters, social media and word of mouth, including clear information about the tailored sessions and the benefits they offer.

They use ongoing data collection to record feedback, understand patterns, and demonstrate outcomes. Data-driven insights result in continuous evolution, helping to steer program enhancements and inform future requests for funding.

Outcomes

Sunshine Valley ELC's initiative addresses the community’s needs, creating a blueprint for adaptable education and care. With ongoing review and evaluation, they ensure evolving family needs are met.

Extended before and after-preschool care in a rural area

Community need

In a rural-remote setting where lengthy commutes are the norm, the pressing need for extended before and after preschool care was clear to Little Finders Community Preschool. The preschool surveyed its current families and found 15% of its population required extended hours care and 5% of families struggled with the lack of transport options.

The proposal

Little Finders Community Preschool proposes to use a Flexible Initiatives Trial grant to offer before and after-preschool care with extended hours. The proposal will help ensure local parents have the support they need to manage work and family obligations as well as ensuring a smooth transition between preschool and home for children.

The plan

The preschool plans to hire additional educators specifically for extended hours, together with some new temporary staff to support with administration and training. They factor in all costs in the trial budget, including an increase in rental costs resulting from the extended hours use of the preschool facility and include transportation costs to support families that do not have transportation.

The budget

Grant application

The Little Finders team submits a grant application outlining the above information. The application is assessed and is successful. They sign a funding agreement.

Implementation

Little Finders is successful in recruiting two dedicated, professional educators to support extending their hours from 9am–3pm to 8am–4pm. They engage the local bus hire company and are able to offer pick up and drop off for 6 families (up to 9 children) 3 days a week.

Using their new software, the preschool captures data on utilisation rates, and other data, including sign in/sign out time to record the usage of the extended hours and evaluate participation. They also gather family feedback. This information allows Little Finders to adapt and refine their program, continually enhancing its impact.

Outcomes

Little Finders' proposal both accommodates parents' schedules and provides flexible care and education to children. By ensuring extended hours support both working parents and children's development, they create an environment where everyone thrives.

A new 3 year old preschool program in a long day care service

Community need

With local community preschools required to prioritise children in the year before school, and the 2 local family day care services focused on the 0-2 year old age group, Glowing Early Childhood has identified that there is a clear demand for a dedicated preschool program for 3 year old children in their area. They survey the community and their current families and find that 15% of families are unable to access a dedicated preschool program for their 3 year old child.

The proposal

Glowing Early Childhood – a long day care service – proposes to use a Flexible Initiatives Trial grant to offer a dedicated preschool program for 3 year old children between 9am and 3pm, converting a space that is currently being used for storage.

To assist with accessibility, the proposal is that children attending the 3 year old preschool session will also be able to access before and after care if the families require it. To ensure the sustainability of their proposal, they plan to also seek regulatory approval to increase their numbers of licensed places by 10. They also plan to make changes to all the sessions they offer, including adding half day options to better meet the needs of local families.

The plan

The long day care plans to undertake minor capital works to renovate an existing store room, apply for regulatory approval, hire additional educators to meet ratios together and train staff.

The budget

Grant application

The Glowing Early Childhood team submits a grant application outlining the above information and including quotes for the capital works elements. The application is assessed and is successful. They sign a funding agreement.

Implementation

Glowing Early Childhood completes its minor capital works renovation work and is approved by the regulatory authority to increase its licensed places by 10.

They successful recruit an ECT and two Certificate III educators to support the dedicated preschool program.

To ensure families are aware of the new preschool program, Glowing Early Childhood promotes it through local newsletters, social media and by connecting with local groups who support children and families. Their increased licensed places are immediately taken up, with many families using the different session types that better meet their needs.

Glowing Early Childhood keeps track of the utilisation rates of the different session types to record the usage of the program and evaluate participation. They also gather family and community feedback. This information allows Glowing Early Childhood to refine their program and evaluate its impact.

Outcomes

Glowing Early Childhood’s proposal provides a dedicated preschool program for 3 year old children, more flexible education and care options with different sessions available for families to choose from and increased places to meet the needs of families in their community.

A new family day care service in a remote area

Community need

Located in a remote area, Happy Bugs family day care provider identifies a need for more quality, accessible early childhood education and care for local families.

The proposal

Happy Bugs has identified a Certificate III educator who is willing to operate a new family day care service in the area but whose residence will need some safety upgrades to meet the regulatory standards.

The plan

The Happy Bugs team puts together a plan that includes an investment in training and upskilling a Certificate III educator; regulatory fees; and some minor capital works to complete essential repairs for safety and compliance, equipment upgrades, and to improve accessibility of the family day care residence for the purpose of the program.

The budget

Grant application

The Happy Bugs team submits a grant application outlining the above information. The application is assessed and is successful. They sign a funding agreement.

Implementation

Happy Bugs, with the Certificate III educator, is successful in setting up the new family day care service.

The service actively engages with their community. They partner with low-SES and CALD families, embracing cultural sensitivities and relevant multilingual resources. They make the best use of IT and software to streamline their administration, so they can focus on caring for and educating young children.

Crucially, the new Happy Bugs family day care service collects feedback, records observations of children's progress, and fosters development. This two-way interaction guides further enhancements, ensuring the program remains rooted in community needs.

Outcomes

Happy Bugs bridges gaps and fosters children's growth in an accessible, home like environment.

A partnership between a preschool and a family day care service

Community need

Demand in the local community for extended education and care options for families that need care beyond traditional hours is identified by Bright Poppies Family Day Care (FDC) through family surveys and community requests. Bright Poppies FDC approaches the local Kidz Kraft Community Preschool to propose a partnership to provide a wrap-around approach that will meet the need.

The proposal

The family day care service and the preschool come together to offer an innovative solution under the FIT: to transport children between the 2 services and deliver a blended education and care experience. Bright Poppies FDC is the main applicant as they are the service that is responsible for the education and care for the children outside of their core ECEC location and hours. They will receive the funding and will need to demonstrate the consent of Kidz Kraft Community Preschool in their application.

The plan

The plan includes recruiting new educators and administrative staff; hiring a minibus, a driver and a supervisor; undertaking some research and resolving any legal and regulatory requirements; an investment in training; and a fee subsidy component to ensure families can access the proposal.

The budget

Grant application

The Bright Poppies FDC team submits a grant application with the above information, including evidence of their partnership with Kidz Kraft. The application is assessed and is successful. Bright Poppies signs a funding agreement.

Implementation

The new partnership enhances operations and optimises the early education and care experience for children and families. Communication and collaboration are key to offering families choice and control in their ECEC experience.

The partner services work together to capture data about children's progress and feedback from families, to record the outcomes of the blended service model. This data-driven approach ensures continuous improvement and better decision-making.

Outcomes

The Bright Poppies and Kidz Kraft partnership efforts create an environment where extended hours of education and wrap-around care are provided.

A partnership between a community preschool and a BASC service

Community need

Dunbar ECEC is an approved provider in NSW which runs both community preschool and after school care services – Beacon Kids Before and After School Care (BASC) and Sunshine Grove Community Preschool. The BASC and the preschool have identified a growing demand for extended education and care services in their local community. Surveys and feedback from families reveal that many parents require a convenient and community focused solution for their children's extended hours care.

The proposal

Dunbar ECEC works with their BASC service and their community preschool to propose an innovative solution – to offer wrap around, extended hours education and care for the preschool children, provided by the BASC service. The proposal incorporates a plan to ‘transport’ the children to and from the preschool via ‘walking bus’, providing a secure and organised way for preschool children to transition from the preschool facility to the BASC facility, which is across the road.

The plan

The plan for the proposed program includes recruiting new educators to ensure continuity of care; developing a schedule and route for transportation; collaborating with local authorities to ensure adherence to safety and transportation regulations; delivery of training programs for staff focused on safety, supervision and effective communication; the procurement of age-appropriate equipment and furniture; and investment in communication tools to facilitate effective communication between families and services.

The budget

Grant application

Dunbar ECEC submits a grant application with the Beacon Kids BASC as the primary applicant as they will be providing the additional ‘wrap-around’ care outside the preschool children’s regular care arrangements. The application is assessed and is successful. Dunbar ECEC signs a funding agreement.

Implementation

Dunbar ECEC is able to coordinate Beacon Kids BASC and Sunshine Grove Community Preschool to collaborate effectively and implement a new program that enhances the education and care experience with wraparound, extended hours care, educators dedicated to the children participating in the program, and a secure and organised transition between the two facilities – providing families with a reliable and safe education and care solution.

The partner services establish clear communication channels, collect feedback from parents and children, and continually refine the program to meet the evolving needs of the community.

Outcomes

The result is an enhanced education and care experience. Children benefit from the convenience and safety of the program, and families gain access to extended hours education and care services that offer choice, control and continuity in their education and care arrangements.