Prescribed information in Education and Care settings

Parents need to feel assured that their child will be safe, happy and have opportunities to learn and grow when enrolled in an education and care service.

This is documentation that services should display, updates they're required to communicate to families, and information that should be readily available if a parent or carer ask to review it.

What should be on display?

The following prescribed information should be on display in an education and care service.

• Quality ratings - each service is assessed and quality rated by their regulatory authority against the National Quality Standard (NQS). This outcome should be on display.
• Documentation including - 
  • emergency and evacuation floor plans
  • name of the approved provider and educational leader
  • contact details of the nominated supervisor in charge
  • any conditions that the service must meet.
• Education program - information about how the children are supported to participate in play and learning. Families can request additional information regarding the content and delivery of the program and any assessments or evaluation noting their child's progress.

What do services need to communicate to families?

The following updates and information must be communicated to families within the appropriate time frames.

• Incident, injury and illness - services must notify parents/carers of incident, injury, trauma or illness as soon as possible but no later than 24 hours after the event.
• Infectious diseases - services must notify parents or authorised emergency contacts as soon as possible if there is an infectious disease outbreak at the service.
• Changes to policies and procedures - services must give 14 days-notice before there is a change to a policy or procedure that may affect the services' provision of education and care.
• Excursions - services should ensure they have written authorisation before a child is taken on an excursion outside of the premises.

What can parents/carers ask to see?

Parents and carers can request to see the following documentation.

• Quality Improvement Plan.
• Compliance record - it must not contain any information that would identify a person or child.

This content has been adapted from the Starting Blocks website, Australia's free government website for families and communities to find and compare services by quality ratings, fees, vacancies and inclusions.