Outside school hours care (OSHC) provider Camp Australia was reportedly mentioned in Southport Magistrates Court earlier in the week, in relation to a Queensland Department of Education case against the provider in which 48 charges have been laid.

Under the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme, any organisation or agency covered by the Privacy Act 1988 – including early childhood education and care (ECEC) services – must notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) when a data breach is likely to result in serious harm to an individual whose personal information is involved.

A recent evaluation of allergy management practices for children undertaken by Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found what researchers termed “worrying gaps” with almost one in ten centres not requiring staff to undertake anaphylaxis training, in contravention of federal legislation.

Working with Children Checks (WWCC) play an important role in the protection of children in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. The WWCC is not only a valuable pre-employment screening tool, it provides ECEC sites with assurance that people who hold a WWCC will be continuously monitored by the issuer against a comprehensive list of offences that would deem them unsuitable to be in contact with children.

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has commenced a review that aims to reduce the risk from fire for vulnerable occupants attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) services located in high-rise buildings, and is seeking comment on its preliminary analysis.