The HDP Grant provides funding to eligible early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to participate in the Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood Education Program (HDC program).

The HDP Grant funding aims to support ECEC services to participate in the HDC program in the 2024 calendar year.

When receiving the check, children must be supervised by an educator or member of staff at the service.

The HDP Grant program was designed based on feedback from the ECEC sector on key barriers to participating in the HDC program. The HDP Grant program aims to address three challenges, including:

• supporting staffing relief during the health and development check
• creating suitable spaces for health and development checks
• capacity building on the HDC program.

For any questions on the HDP Grant, please contact the Early Childhood Development team on EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

Applications for the 2024 HDP Grant program have now closed.

NSW Department of Education will communication further information about future HDP Grant rounds as it becomes available.

Application outcomes are expected to be released on 31 May 2024. Payment of the grant will occur before 30 June 2024.

Approved providers that are successful in the application process will receive payment prior to 30 June 2024.

The NSW Department of Education will pay the grant to approved providers as a one-off payment through the Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS).

Approved providers are required to accept the ECCMS Terms and Conditions before submitting an application. The 2024 Early Childhood Outcomes Terms and Conditions are applicable to all users of ECCMS and are the same Terms and Conditions that providers are required to accept for the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

Further information on ECCMS and the Terms and Conditions can be found in Section 4.3 of the program guidelines.

Services must participate in the HDC program and spend grant funding by 31 May 2025. If you have any concerns, please contact us at EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

The HDP Grant is a one-off grant to help services participate in the HDC Program before 31 May 2025 and is separate from the Sector Capacity Building Program. HDP Grant funding can be used across 3 categories as outlined in the Program Guidelines.

In the HDP Grant program, a suitable space is a place that allows the HDC program to be conducted privately.

This can be a separate room, area, or classroom within an ECEC setting. If there is no option for onsite delivery, this category can also extend to a roaming clinic space or local offsite venue hire, preferably within walking distance of the ECEC service.

Any minor capital work that involves repurposing or refurbishing rooms or spaces within the service to provide suitable space.

Grant funding cannot be used to fund any major capital works, or any major expenditure related to major building refurbishments, structural repairs or other improvements. For more information on major capital works, see Section 5.1 of the program guidelines.

Where possible, services are encouraged to avoid transporting children to take part in the HDC program.

If no suitable space is available at the ECEC service to participate in the HDC Program, services are encouraged to hire either a roaming clinic or a local venue that is within walking distance, before considering vehicle transport options.

If services need to use vehicle transport to transport children to take part in the HDC program, services are required to follow NSW regulations in transporting children safely. Services are also encouraged to explore the NSW Department of Education resources on transporting children safely.

To support staff in the HDC program, we encourage services to access the free training available on the HDC program. HDP Grant recipients may spend category 3 grant funds on travel or relief time through practical assistance such as relief teachers and associated costs to attend relevant events (in person or online) to learn about health and development checks and build capacity in supporting children’s developmental needs.

Services are encouraged to use funding to attend the health and development checks workshops and engage with online training modules including to learn to identify children with a potential developmental concern or delay and support their developmental needs.

Services can also use category 3 funds to:

• engage an allied health professional or external organisation to deliver evidence-based staff capacity building that supports staff to address children’s developmental needs identified by the HDC program
• arrange the delivery of specialised education programs by an external provider such as an allied health professional or non-government organisation to provide upskilling for ECEC educators/teachers and support strategies
• engage a community member to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families’ participation in the HDC Program.

The NSW Department of Education is working in partnership with NSW Health to help approved providers participate in the HDC program. An extension to participate in the HDC program and spend grant funding by 31 May 2025 has been granted to assist with participation.

If you have any concerns, please contact us at EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

Approved providers are required to provide evidence to the NSW Department of Education by June 2025 that demonstrates how the grant funds have directly supported the services’ participation in the HDC Program before 31 May 2025 (e.g. through invoices).

Further details of the grant reporting requirements can be found in Section 5.5 of the program guidelines.

The NSW Department of Education recognises that services will need to prepare children and their families for the HDC program.

The department suggests that ECEC services draw upon resources available on the NSW Health website to help inform families and children about what the HDC program will involve.

For more information on free available resources for the HDC program, please email the Early Childhood Development team at EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

Section 5.1 of the program guidelines outlines some restrictions for funding that ECEC services cannot spend their funding for.

Funding cannot be used for:

• regular administration of the ECEC
• sensory toys, trampolines or resources for children under the age of 3 years
• major capital works
• supports already offered by the NSW Sector Capacity Building Program or the Inclusion Support Program
• withdrawing a child from an ECEC group setting to deliver therapy.

Yes, services may choose to spend funds on any or a combination of the 3 categories outlined in the program guidelines. We understand circumstances may have changed since you submitted your application and the intended spending outlined may now differ. Services can decide how best to spend funding in line with the program guidelines to best suit their individual service needs. As per the program guidelines, providers will need to report on how funding has been spent through completing a formal acquittal process by June 2025.

Eligible activities under Category 3 enable ECEC services to bring in an allied health worker or other professionals to support children’s health and development by providing educators and teachers with support to embed suitable cohort-wide strategies and build a better understanding of developmental milestones. This person does not need to be from your local health district. Any engagement of allied health, such as a speech pathologist or an occupational therapist, must be focused on upskilling educators and teachers and is not to be used for delivering therapy or support to individual children. This could include upskilling staff on implementing strategies to support speech and language development or upskilling staff on strategies to enhance your school readiness program.

Processes vary across districts; however, districts are not responsible for delivering professional learning and training to ECEC services under this program. The NSW Department of Education has provided a list of recommended professional learning (PDF 79.4 KB). This list is not exhaustive, services are encouraged to research and find additional suitable training.

The required space required will be similar to what is needed for the StEPS program. You will need a private space that is away from the main activities happening at the service. This could be a separate room, such as a staff room, programming room or office, or could be achieved by sectioning off an area of the classroom. No special equipment such as iPads or any medical equipment is required. Your local health district will bring their own equipment as needed. An educator or teacher must always be present during the check. Under no circumstances is a child to be left alone with visiting Health professionals.

If undertaking refurbishment of a space to use for Health and Development Checks, please ensure you consider how this space might be used during and after the check for supporting children’s development needs. For example, some services have chosen to refurbish a room or space that will be used as an allied health therapy room or a meeting room for families and health professionals to collaborate following the health and development checks visit.

Upon hearing from your local health district to book your service visit, we recommend asking about space requirements as exact requirements may vary across districts. Under no circumstances is funding to be used for refurbishment that is not related to the health and development checks program.

To be eligible for the Health and Development Participation Grant, your service agreed to participate in the HDC program before 31 May 2025. If your service has already participated in the program, you have fulfilled the eligibility requirements for the grant and may expend funds as outlined in the program guidelines.

We suggest considering opportunities to enhance the capability of your educators through professional development opportunities or through investment in service resources and environment. Based on your HDC experience. consider opportunities to enhance your service’s ability to respond to the identified needs of your children and families.

We recommend speaking to the child’s parents or guardians and referring them to their local GP or Child and Family Health (CFH) service. CFH services are free for NSW parents and carers of children aged 0-5 years and provide health and development checks for children as per the NSW Blue Book. Families do not require a referral to access a CFH service. CFH professionals provide targeted information, support and specialised referrals for children with developmental concerns. If you are unsure where your closest CFH service is, please refer to the NSW Health webpage.

Your local health district will contact you. Each district is at a different stage of implementation and their model of delivery may look different to one another. Districts will provide clear communication on their processes in your area when they contact you for a booking.

You do not need to arrange your own health professionals to deliver the checks. Your local health district will provide this as part of the Health and Development Checks in ECEC program. Participation in this program is a requirement of receiving grant funding.

The NSW Health local health district map allows you to input your service address to determine your local health district. Contact details for each district are available on the NSW Health website.

The Department of Education and NSW Health are closely monitoring service delivery.

The uptake of the grant program has been extremely high and districts are working hard to book all service visits as soon as possible. We ask that services be flexible in their booking date and note that visits happen year-round. As such, requests for a specific time of year may not be accommodated. We will check in with your service in the coming months to understand your booking status and discuss an extension if required.

Yes, we encourage services to begin spending funds now under Category 2 (suitable space for Health and Development Checks) and 3 (supporting children’s health after the checks). This could include purchasing resources to support children’s development, getting your service ready for the visit which might include minor refurbishment and engaging in professional learning to boost educator and teacher capacity to support children’s development needs which may involve the engagement of private allied health providers.

If you are planning to use some of the funding for educator or teacher relief time to complete related administrative tasks and having an educator present during the checks, we recommend setting aside a portion of funds to use once the visit is scheduled. More information on spending rules can be found in the program guidelines.