1. Purpose

This document (Guidelines) provides an overview of the 2025 Health and Development Participation Grant (HDP Grant).

The HDP Grant provides funding to eligible early childhood education and care providers to support the implementation of the separate but related Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood Education Program (HDC Program). The HDC Program is a partnership between the Department of Education (Department) and NSW Health to deliver a universal, recurrent program to provide health and development checks to 4-year-old children by local health district staff within early childhood education and care settings. The HDP Grant funding aims to support early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers to embed suitable strategies to enable their partnership, and children’s participation, in the HDC Program.

The HDP Grant comprises $5,379,000 in funding inclusive of GST. The source agency for the entirety of the funding is the Department.

The Guidelines are intended to be read by applicants of the grant program, and they outline the program’s activities, requirements, objectives, outcomes, and evaluation approach.

The Guidelines may be amended or replaced by the department from time to time. These changes may be made in response to the continuous program improvement or where further clarity is required. Changes to the Guidelines may be made in consultation with the sector but remain at the discretion of the department. Approved providers are expected to comply with the current version of the Guidelines.

2. Policy and legislative context

The HDC program is a part of the Brighter Beginnings: The First 2000 Days of Life initiative from the NSW Government. This initiative is a cross-government initiative that aims to give children the best start in life.

The 2021 Australian Early Development Census found that 1 in 5 children in NSW were developmentally vulnerable in one or more domains. Research indicates that being developmentally on track is a key predictor of life and learning outcomes.

The HDC Program aims to increase the number of children receiving a health and development check to identify any developmental support they may need. Increasing the number of children who complete the 4-year health and development check can help families:

• get information they need to support their child’s health, growth and development
• seek help where needed, before their child starts school.

More information about the HDC Program can be found on Health and development checks in early childhood services.

The HDP Grant aims to support early childhood education and care providers to engage with the HDC Program, making it easier for eligible services to access the checks so that more 4-year-old children will receive this important check sooner.

The Department will ensure that any work with providers to enhance early childhood education programs aligns with quality expectations under the National Quality Framework.

2.1 Probity advice

The proposed grant is not considered complex, high-risk or high-value in nature and as such the requirement under Section 6.1 of the Grants Administration Guide (issued under Premier’s Memorandum M2024-03) (Guide) to obtain probity advice does not apply.

3. Program overview

3.1 Objectives

The key objective of the 2025 HDP Grant is to increase engagement with the HDC Program and support ECEC educator and teacher capability uplift in the domains of early childhood health and development.

In 2025, eligible approved providers may apply for funds under the following two categories to support their engagement with the HDC program:

Category 1: Participation in HDC program

Eligible activities under Category 1 provide staffing support for the HDC Program.

Category 2: Capability Uplift and Resources to support children’s development

Eligible activities under Category 2 build capacity of ECEC educators and teachers to support children’s health and development. They enable ECEC services to:

• cover travel and relief time costs to enable ECEC educators and teachers to attend health and development check workshops and engage with training resources or related professional learning.
• 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.
• arrange the provision/purchase of resources to support children’s development. Resources will need to support cohort-wide engagement with identified developmental domains, such as speech or language development.

3.2 Application assessment

The department will assess applications and determine funding based on service eligibility (see Section 4.1 Service eligibility criteria), spending rules (see Section 5.1 Spending rules), program priorities and available funding.

Applications that satisfy the eligibility and spending rules will be approved up to the limit of total available funding. Each category will be capped at a certain number of recipients, as per grant modelling, projections and district and organisational capacity. This means:

• there will be up to 400 eligible applicants in Category 1
• Category 2 will be available for eligible applicants until the total grant funds are exhausted.

If the number of eligible applicants exceeds the total grant funds and/or the category cap, the Department will apply the following hierarchy in prioritising applications:

• Eligible Aboriginal Child and Family Centres, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) delivering early childhood education and care or partnering with early childhood education and care services, Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services.
• Eligible ECEC services with higher proportion or high number of Aboriginal children.
• Eligible ECEC providers located in areas with a Socio-Economic Indexes for areas (SEIFA) quintile of between 1-3, according to the index for relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD)*.
• Eligible ECEC services with higher proportion or high number of children with language background other than English (LBOTE).
• Other eligible ECEC providers operating a service.

There may be applicants who satisfy the eligibility and assessment criteria but are not awarded a grant, as preference will be given, according to the hierarchy above, in equity considerations.

* The SEIFA IRSAD from the Australian Bureau of Statistics ranks areas according to socio-economic advantage and disadvantage based on census data. These spending rules use the SEIFA IRSAD to identify and preference approved providers that are more likely to educate children experiencing disadvantage. SEIFA IRSD for the location (SA2) of each service applying for the grant will be calculated using 2021 ABS data.

3.3 Application process

Applications for the HDP Grant should be submitted through the SmartyGrants online application system. A guide is available to help applicants use SmartyGrants.

For services who are unable to apply via Smarty grants, an application may be submitted via email. Please contact EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au for an application form.

The application must be completed by the Approved Provider, or a duly authorised representative of the approved provider and/or SP-Admin account holder* and confirms the accuracy of the application’s content. This person will be the SP-Admin account holder in the Early childhood contract management system (ECCMS).

To ensure applications can be prioritised in accordance with the hierarchy (see Section 3.2 Application Assessment), applicants will be required to submit evidence of the following:

• Proportion/number of Aboriginal children in the care of the service
• Proportion/number of children with a language background other than English
• SEIFA rating (if known)

Applications will be reviewed to ensure they meet eligibility criteria and comply with the Guidelines. Applications for the 2025 HDP Grant will be accepted from 19 November to 20 December 2024. The department will assess applications, using the eligibility and assessment criteria, between 16 December and 24 January 2025. Applicants will be notified of the outcomes by 14 February 2025.

* A duly authorised representative of the approved provider and/or SP-Admin account holder is someone who has received permission from their organisation, the approved provider and the ECCMS SP-Admin account holder to submit this application on their behalf.

4. Program eligibility criteria

4.1 Service eligibility criteria

To be eligible for activities under both Categories 1 and 2 of the HDP Grant, the services must meet all of the following criteria:

• Be an approved provider under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law Act 2010 (NSW) and be one of the following:
  • Not-for-profit community preschool (centre based);
  • Not-for-profit long day care (as identified in the National Quality Agenda IT system, or where sufficient evidence is provided upon request), including a local government managed service;
  • Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Service*;
  • Aboriginal Child and Family Centre*
  • Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisation*; and
  • Standalone for-profit long day care (defined as for profit providers operating a single long day care service as identified by the National Quality Agenda IT system);
• Must deliver an early childhood education program to children aged 4 and above.

The service must also do the following if applying for Category 1:

• agree to participate in the HDC Program by the end of 2025*

* During the application process, ACCOs, Aboriginal Child and Family Centres and Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services may apply to participate in the HDC Program by offering health and development checks through an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation instead of a NSW Health Local Health District. “Health and development checks through an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation” will be deemed to be and should be read as the HDC Program.

Approved providers would need to have an active, up to date account in ECCMS and agree to the Terms and Conditions of the HDP Grant including the acquittals process.

4.2 Program logic

The HDP Grant Program logic illustrates the relationship between program activities and intended outcomes.

The logic outlines how the HDP Grant is expected to enable the goals of the HDC Program:

• In the short-term, increasing eligible ECEC providers’ uptake of the HDC Program.
• In the medium-term, uplifting ECEC educator and teacher capabilities in supporting children health and development, and continuing ECEC providers’ uptake of the HDC Program.
• In the long-term, increasing the number of 4-year-old children receiving routine HDC checks and referrals as clinically indicated.

See Appendix 1: Program logic.

4.3 Payments

The department will pay grants to approved providers as a one-off payment through ECCMS.

Approved providers that have applied for the grant, committed to participate in the HDC Program in 2025 and been notified that their application is successful, will be required to accept the ECCMS Terms and Conditions of the Grant.

Grant payments will only be progressed for applicants that are registered in the ECCMS and have accepted the Terms and Conditions of the HDP Grant program. Early Childhood Outcomes Commissioned Programs – Funding Agreement – Terms and Conditions – 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 (2025 Terms and Conditions) are accepted in ECCMS. Approved providers must accept the Terms and Conditions in ECCMS by 31 December 2024.

Those Terms and Conditions for the respective year and these Guidelines and other associated documents will form the Funding Agreement for approved providers receiving a grant payment under this HDP Grant.

Providers should ensure that their ECCMS SP-Admin account holder can log into ECCMS successfully using their myID.

Providers are required to review the following pages within ECCMS:

• Main Service Provider page – ensure that service details and contacts are up to date on the Main Details, Contacts and Address tabs; and
• Each Funding Specification page – ensure that details and contacts are updated on the Main Details, Contacts and Address tabs.

Approved providers that have met these requirements will receive payment prior to 31 March 2025.

4.4 Key dates

Key dates for the 2025 HDP Grant are:

5. Program requirements

5.1 Spending rules

This program is being funded on a calendar year basis.

The HDP Grant funding must be used to support an approved provider’s participation in the HDC Program in 2025 and/or engage in educational capability uplift activities, per Funding Agreement.

HDP Grant funds must be spent by 31 December 2025.

What can be funded

Eligible services may apply for grant funding in up to 2 categories; up to $7,500 in total funds exclusive of GST. The funding can be used to embed strategies from a combination of one or more of the categories below:

Category 1: Participation in HDC program

Program Activities

Providing relief (including financial assistance, or practical assistance such as relief teachers) for educators/teachers to take time off the floor to:

• undertake administrative duties such as collating consent forms, and liaise with parents and NSW Health nurses;
• complete pre-assessment questionnaires;
• support children during the check; and
• engage in professional learning to build capacity to support children’s learning and development needs.

To support the completion of the duties outlined above, ECEC services may use funding to cover:

• additional wage payments to permanent educators/teachers to extend working hours
• additional wage payments to permanent educators/teachers to work additional hours on non-contracted days, where negotiated and agreed to by both the early childhood education provider and the staff member
• any costs incurred by employing relief educators/teachers, including wage payments and travel costs to and from the ECEC service location
• any travel costs incurred by permanent educators/teachers to offsite locations where applicable.

Linked Outcomes

Short term:

• Services can participate in the HDC Program in 2025.

Medium term:

• Engagement in professional development allows for educators/teachers to become more knowledgeable, skilled and confident to discuss child development with families and support children under their care appropriately.

Category 2: Capability Uplift and Resources to support children’s development

Program Activities

Eligible services may use Category 2 funding across the following 3 sub-categories:

2a. ECEC Educator & Teacher Professional Development

Providing opportunities for ECEC educators and teachers to build capability to support children’s health and development.

ECEC services may use funding to cover any travel costs incurred by permanent educators/teachers or any costs incurred by employing relief educators/teachers to support educator and teacher attendance at relevant events (in person or online) to learn about health and development checks and build capability in supporting children’s health and development.

Services will be encouraged to use the funding to attend health and development workshops and engage with the Department’s professional learning materials and tools, including resources and courses, provided by the Department.

2b. Engagement of Allied Health Professionals

Providing support to ECEC services to engage professionals to support children’s health and development and build capacity within the service.

Providing opportunities for 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.

Engaging external allied health providers for specialised education programs, including:

• arranging the delivery of specialised education programs by an external provider, such as an allied health professional or non-government organization, to provide upskilling and support strategies for ECEC educators/teachers
• arranging for an allied health worker or other non-government provider to come to the service to provide a response to any concerns identified as part of the health and development check and support educators and teachers to develop suitable strategies to embed in their curriculum. This is to be co-delivered with educators and teachers to the entire cohort and not used to provide individual therapy or to remove a child/ren from the group. This could include the engagement of speech therapists, occupational therapists etc
• the engagement of a community member to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families’ participation in the HDC Program.

2c. Resource to support children’s development

Purchasing functional or educational resources to support children’s learning and developmental needs following the health and development checks.

Resources and equipment must be for the benefit of children aged 4 and above and must be directly linked to a specific developmental need, i.e. speech and language development.

Examples of appropriate use of funding for developmnetal domains include:

Socioemotional development

• Dramatic play resources including costumes, props and play furniture
• Emotion flashcards
• Visual timers

Cognitive development

• Counting/sorting sets
• Memory matching games
• Puzzles

Fine motor development

• Lacing beads/cards
• Construction resources including blocks and connectors
• Child-sized tweezers/droppers/scissors

Gross motor development

• Balance boards
• Stepping stones
• Balls
• Fundamental movement cards

Speech and language development

• Storybooks
• Musical instruments
• Visual routine/schedule board

Health & wellbeing resources

• Healthy eating resources (food models, posters, story books about healthy eating)
• Oral Health resources (mouth models, tooth brushes etc)

Note this is not an exhaustive list and is up to the discretion of the eligible service and needs of the children.

Linked Outcomes

Short term:

• children are supported to participate in the HDC Program.

Medium term:

• early childhood education and care services remain consistently engaged in the HDC Program over time
• parents and carers find the health and development checks process accessible and convenient
• educators and teachers are equipped with appropriate resources to support children's learning and development following the health and development checks
• educators are knowledgeable, skilled and confident to discuss child development with families and support children under their care appropriately.

Long term:

• children are more developmentally ready to start school, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

What cannot be funded

Funding cannot be used for regular administration of the ECEC or eligible service that is not related to participation in health and development checks.

Funding cannot be used to purchase sensory toys, trampolines or resources for children under the age of 3 years.

Funding cannot be sought, or used for, supports already offered through another grant which addresses the same element(s). This includes, but is not limited to, NSW Government grant programs such as the NSW Sector Capacity Building Program (SCB Program) or the Inclusion Support Program (IS Program). The HDP Grant will support any additional training or development that falls outside of the SCB or IS Program guidelines only. In the instance that a service is recipient of the SCB Program or IS Program, preschool services must speak with their provider to identify training and supports needed for their service.

Funding cannot be used to withdraw a child from an ECEC group setting to deliver therapy. Where external providers such as an allied health professional or non-government organisation are engaged, the specialised education program must focus on upskilling ECEC educators/teachers, such as in the co-delivery of group-based sessions to meet children’s developmental needs.

5.2 Target and priority groups

The target group for the HDP Grant is children who are 4 or turning 4 years old by 31 July each year in NSW. Children will need parental consent to participate. Consent forms will be provided to ECEC services from their Local Health District representatives upon signing up to the HDC program.* The target group are part of an eligible early childhood education and care provider, as outlined in the program eligibility requirements.

A priority cohort within the target group of 4-year-old children are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Research indicates that this group has a higher proportion of children who are identified as developmentally vulnerable, compared to the overall Australian population.**

* It is the responsibility of the service to coordinate parental consent. The service must act in accordance with the National Quality Framework and all applicable laws.

** Australian Government Productivity Commission's 2021 Closing the Gap Information Repository.

5.3 Locations and approved providers

The HDP Grant will support approved providers to participate in the HDC Program in 2025.

Approved providers will work with their Local Health Districts to opt into the HDC program and offer the HDC Program through their service.

The aim of the HDC Program is to deliver health and development checks to children in early childhood education and care settings, or other approved settings, located in Local Health Districts in NSW.

5.4 Decision making

• The person responsible for approving the HDP grant program is the Deputy Secretary, Early Childhood Outcomes, NSW Department of Education.
• The grant must be administered in accordance with the NSW Grants Administration Guide.
• The decision to approve or decline a grant will be made by the department (Decision Maker).
• The grant will be administered by the department.
• Any conflict of interest is required to be declared and managed in accordance with the department’s Code of Conduct, for department staff.
• All decisions in the recommendation and approval process must be documented. The Decision Maker’s decision to approve or decline a grant must be recorded in writing. All records must be managed in accordance with the requirements of the State Records Act 1998 (NSW).
• Where the application is supported, the Decision Maker has discretion to determine the funding amount (this may be either the full funding amount requested, or a portion of the funding request). The Decision Maker’s decision and reason to depart from the funding amount recommended in the brief must be recorded in writing.
• Applicants will be advised, in writing, of the outcome of their application.

5.5 Reporting requirements

Approved providers are required to spend all funding received from the HDP Grant by 31 December 2025 in accordance with the Funding Agreement.

Approved providers are required to provide a six-month update from the date that services receive the grant to demonstrate how grant funds have been spent across the applicable category/ies by providing the department with the following information:

• for category 1 funding: summary of how category 1 funds have been spent on supporting participation in the HDC Program including:
  • update on the number of additional hours of staffing that have supported the approved provider’s participation in the HDC Program
  • date of completed participation in the HDC Program
  • number of children that participated in the HDC Program (through the approved provider).
• for category 2 funding: summary of how category 2 funds have been spent on supporting engagement with HDC Program outcomes which may include:
  • resources and equipment to support children’s learning and developmental needs following the health and development checks
  • details of engagement with an allied health professional to embed cohort-wide strategies
  • the number of approved provider’s staff that:
    • engaged in professional development related to health & development; and/or
    • engaged with the DoE Support Suite offering, including health and development checks culturally safe approach reflective tool; and/or
    • engaged in online training modules to learn how to identify children with a potential developmental concern or delay; and support their developmental needs; and/or
    • engaged with an allied health professional.

5.6 Record keeping

Approved providers are required to comply with all financial and data collection, reporting and acquittal requirements (See Section 5.5 Reporting requirements).

Approved providers must undertake a formal acquittal process by June 2026. The acquittal process includes completing a statement which includes reporting on how the funding has been spent. All approved providers are required to submit evidence of expenditure, and a statement, on the direct impacts that funds have had on the service before the 30 June 2026.

Approved providers may also be audited. This audit could be a part of the department’s annual audit, or to confirm the accuracy of data provided in an applicant’s statement. Therefore, relevant records must be retained by providers for the purpose of the department undertaking reviews.

Approved providers will be required to participate in the evaluation of the HDP Grant by collecting and providing requested data and participating in evaluation activities. This will include a short survey on use of HDP Grant funds to support participation in the HDC program. A process evaluation will be used to provide information on the delivery of the HDP Grant, to ensure it is being delivered as intended to support approved providers’ ongoing participation in the HDC Program.

Approved providers may be required to obtain consent from participating families to share relevant data with the department and/or program evaluation team. If necessary, approved providers will be provided with appropriate consent forms and disclosure information. Approved providers must ensure consent forms are completed prior to collecting and recording personal information.

Further detail about the HDP Grant monitoring and evaluation activities, including requirements to obtain consent, is included in the 2024 and 2025 Terms and Conditions.

The department may disclose certain information regarding the HDP Grant to the NSW Department of Health and to NSW Local Health Districts for the purpose of the HDC Program.

The department will ensure that any work with approved providers to enhance early childhood education programs aligns with quality expectations outlined under the National Quality Framework.

6. Roles and responsibilities

The approved HDP Grant provider is required to:

• spend the allocated funds by 31 December 2025 in specified categories and complete an acquittal by June 2026
• provide reporting (See Section 5.5 Reporting requirements) and program evaluation data (See Section 8.2 Program review and evaluations), as needed
• take part in an audit of the program, if required.

7. Governance

7.1 Program management

The program management function for the HDP Grant will be performed by the staff from the Early Childhood Development Team in the department’s Early Childhood Outcomes division.

The department is the Decision Maker for the HDP Grant Program. All funds awarded must be spent according to Funding Agreement which includes amongst other things the Terms and Conditions and these Guidelines.

The Decision Maker has the authority to approve or decline grants, even if it differs from the recommendation of the assessment team. If a decision-maker chooses to depart from the assessment panel’s recommendation, they must provide a clear explanation in the relevant documentation. Decisions are recorded and any deviations from the assessment panel's recommendations are documented in writing. The documentation, including reasons for departures, is published to ensure transparency.

7.2 Program-level governance

The person responsible for approving the HDP Grant Program is the Deputy Secretary, Early Childhood Outcomes, NSW Department of Education. The HDP Grant will be governed through the established HDC program-level governance between the department and NSW Health.

8. Additional Information

8.1 Communication

The department may publicise and report on any funds awarded to approved providers.

Approved providers are required by the Terms and Conditions to publicly acknowledge the funding received through the HDP Grant, with the following statement:

“This Service is a recipient of funding under the NSW Department of Education’s Health and Development Participation Grant.”

Such an acknowledgment may be included in a regular newsletter or an annual report.

8.2 Program review and evaluations

These Guidelines may be updated or amended over the course of the HDP Grant program. This will be in response to continuous program improvement or where further clarity is required.

Changes to the Guidelines may be made in consultation with the sector, but remain at the discretion of the department, and will be communicated to the sector.

The department will undertake an evaluation to understand the effectiveness of the HDP Grant. Participating providers may be required to participate in an evaluation of the HDP Grant through provision of data and participation in other evaluation activities as required.

The department will ensure that any work with approved providers to enhance early childhood education programs aligns with quality expectations outlined under the National Quality Framework.

8.3 Contacts

For more information about the HDP Grant, please contact: EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au