This week, Enhance Family Day Care are committed to acknowledging and celebrating NAIDOC Week.
What is NAIDOC Week? National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday to Sunday), to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. You can support and get to know your local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities through activities and events held across the country.
We have asked families to share with you any events or traditions they partake in to mark NAIDOC Week, to assist you to extend and scaffold children’s learnings. We encourage you to share with your families and Practice Mentor any special NAIDOC Week activities and learning opportunities you are facilitating in your service.
NAIDOC Week Activities NAIDOC Week events near you, can be found here. You can find posters and resources on the NAIDOC website here.
We encourage you to get up, stand up, show up in celebration of NAIDOC Week!
Educator Alert | Enhance FDC Radio Ad is LIVE
EDUCATOR RECRUITMENT RADIO CAMPAIGN Live across Southern Cross Austereo
Educators like you are the heart of Enhance Family Day Care (FDC)!
We want everyone to know the value of Family Day Care and are eager to expand our service and operations to meet the needs of families by recruiting new Educators to join Enhance FDC. We are excited for the wider community to experience exceptional home-based education and care provided by Enhance FDC.
Listen to the radio ad below that will be playing over the next 10 days, from Sunday 19 - Thursday 30 June, across the following Southern Cross Austereo stations:
B105, Brisbane & Ipswich Triple M, Bundaberg Hit 100.7, Darling Downs (Warwick) Hit 93.5, Gladstone Hit 89.1, Kingaroy
This campaign has been crafted to raise the profile of Enhance FDC and highlight the benefits of being an Enhance FDC Educator. Other Enhance FDC service locations will be promoted in future campaigns.
Turn on the radio and spread the good news!
Educator Alert | End of Financial Year Communication
END OF FINANCIAL YEAR COMMUNICATION
As the end of financial year quickly approaches, please find the essential administration information you need detailed below.
Weekly Processing As discussed in the Organisational Meeting on Tuesday 10 May and communicated in the email sent out on Wednesday 11 May, weekly processing will commence for timesheets, beginning on Wednesday 11 July 2022. Please see the table below detailing how payments will be received:
What you need to do:
Harmony Weekly Invoicing If you have your Harmony invoice account set to fortnightly in arrears, you may wish to change these settings to align with the new weekly pay cycle, from Friday 15 July 2022 (this cannot be done prior to this date). Please follow the steps outlined below to set up your weekly pay cycle. Alternatively, if you wish to continue invoicing fortnightly, no further action is required.
Go into Harmony 'Accounts' - click on 'Settings'
On the right hand side of your screen, under 'Scheduled auto invoicing', change the 'occurs every' to 1 Week, in arrears
In the 'Next Scheduled Auto Invoicing Run date' box change to 22/07/2022
Once you can see 1 week, click the green 'save' button on the top right corner of the page
Please do not hesitate to contact your Administration team member for any assistance, should you need it.
Fee Schedules Thank you to those of you who have already submitted your new fee schedules. If you wish to increase your fees, please ensure you submit your new fee schedule to Administration and remember to change dates, allowing for the required four (4) week notice period availed to families.
Complete the fee schedule using this template. The fee schedule is sent out to families on enrolment.
Complete all sections on the fee schedule prior to emailing through for approval.
What’s new?
Payment Advice changes for Educators and Families In consultation with the Educator Representative Group and feedback from educators and families, we have reviewed the current process in which Payment Advice and Statements are sent from the service to educators and families. From Monday 11 July, a new process will take place, as outlined below:
Educator Payment Advice You will no longer receive family Payment Advice via email, after processing each Thursday. As soon as the service is finalised, you now have the ability to access this report via the 'Reports' function in Harmony. To receive this report, you must complete the following steps:
Accounts
Reports
Select report - drop down box to payment advice
Set report parameter - select billing period
Choose the timesheet, week ending date
Family Payment Advice The Family Payment Advice is currently sent from the service to your families. This Payment Advice does not include any receipted amounts paid by families to you, their educator. After consultation with the Educator Representative Group and Feedback from families and educators, we have concluded that this advice is causing confusion with regards to what payments families owe. From Monday 11 July 2022, Enhance will no longer be issuing this payment advice. Please email invoices and receipts directly to families, ensuring that accounts are kept up to date.
Families Statement of Entitlement This statement is required by law to be sent to families after the processing of timesheets from the service. This statement lists the total fee, parent gap fees, booked hours and the times the children are signed in and out of care. From Monday 11 July this statement will be sent to families on a weekly basis.
End of Year Statements Payment History reports will be emailed to you and published on Harmony on Friday 1 July 2022. To access Payment History reports, please follow the steps outlined below. This period will run from 29 June 2021 to 26 June 2022.
Accounts
Reports - select report
Payment History
Financial Year 2022
Download
Thank you for taking the time to read through the above email communication. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your Administration team member.
Educator Alert | Mindful Meditation
MINDFULNESS WITH JULIAN HEELIS Meditation
Join Julian for this week's mindfulness practice, captured via the link below.
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Regional Meeting Invitation
REGIONAL MEETING INVITATION Wednesday 15 June at 7pm
We are pleased to invite you to the Enhance Family Day Care June/July Regional Zoom Meeting on Wednesday 15 June at 7pm, hosted by our Children Services Managers.
These virtual meetings will keep you up to date with the Enhance service happenings and current Quality Focus areas.
We are pleased to share the meeting agenda for next Wednesday night, as follows:
Raindrop Diversity Educator Curriculum package
Risk Mitigation – Exploring our new annual Educator re-registration
Quality Focus Areas – Sustainability & Cultural Awareness
Children in Care with Relatives
Admin – EOFY Child Care Subsidy Balancing
You are invited to a Zoom meeting Wednesday 15 June, 7pm
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Mindful Meditation
MINDFULNESS WITH JULIAN HEELIS Meditation
Join Julian for this week's mindfulness practice, captured via the link below.
This week's focus reflects on looking at the power of staying in the present moment to find calm and stillness with a simple counting technique, and then introducing a way to use this in everyday life and exercise.
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Sleep, Rest and Relation Policy Review
SLEEP, REST AND RELAXATION POLICY REVIEW
In line with our commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of all children attending Enhance Family Day Care services, we are continuing the rollout of new and updated policies for Educators, to guide practice and support your delivery of high quality services.
The Enhance Family Day Care Sleep, Rest and Relaxation Policy, was implemented in May 2021 and is due for review.
It is important to seek feedback and reflect on the implementation of the policy, ensuring the policy is current and continues to be a useful resource for you.
We would appreciate your feedback on our policy and our practices around sleep, rest and relaxation. Your feedback will keep us accountable and ensure we are considering all of our stakeholders' perspectives and the safety of children, during this review.
We are interested to hear of any improvements in practices and processes that you think could be refined or changed, and any further feedback regarding this policy.
The Approved Provider for Enhance Family Day Care (FDC), Family Day Care Association Queensland is required to take reasonable steps to ensure policies and procedures are available to and followed by Educators.
Over the past 12 months, Enhance FDC has implemented a range of new systems and processes to improve the Approved Providers' obligations. These systems include; The Educator Portal, Policy Training Modules, Policy Handbook and Online Enrolments for Families, amongst others.
To assess the effectiveness of these systems we require you to complete the following survey:
All Enhance FDC Educators are required to complete this short survey by close of business on Friday 27 May.
We value your time and estimate this survey should take between five to ten minutes of your time. Your valuable insight and feedback will ensure Family Day Care Association Queensland meets your needs and supports future improvements and development of our systems.
Educator Alert | Updated Fee Schedule
UPDATED FEE SCHEDULE
As communicated during last night's Educator Meeting and after much consideration, it has been decided to increase the service levy to $1.50 after the Service Levy has remained at $1.40 for the last two financial years. This was a decision made at the time by Enhance Family Day Care to lessen the financial impacts and stress on our Educators during the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During our Levy review process which included consulting with the Educator Representative Group we have made the following decisions:
To increase the Service Levy to keep up with increased business and running costs and the rise of Consumer Price Index. This Service Levy Increase will be implemented from Monday 11 July.
Implement Weekly Educator Timesheet Processing from Monday 11 July. This has been an initiative that we have been exploring for some time.
Implemented minor changes to the current Fee schedule. Please discard all copies of the old Fee Schedule template and refer only to the new Fee Schedule. This can be accessed by the link below or through the Enhance Portal.
Educators are always encouraged to review and adjust their fees, recuperating any increased operating costs (levies and other costs), whilst ensuring you remain competitive and reflect value for money and affordability for families.
Fee Schedule Timeframes Below are examples of timeframes to guide you in preparation to commence your new fees by Monday 11 July 2022.
Important Reminder You will need to provide your families and the service with four weeks notice before your new fees can be implemented.
*Please note, these are subject to change based on when you provide the service and families with your Fee Schedule. If you are starting later than Monday 11 July 2022, please adjust your start date to reflect the 4 weeks notice period.
We have informed families of the process of the fee schedule review and that this is standard practice for Educators. We have also included information relating to Child Care Balancing. You can view the Family email by clicking on the button below:
How do I complete online forms? Fee Schedules and online forms are best completed by using your Smartphone or desktop, rather than handwriting, to ensure professionalism and that the document can be clearly displayed to the service and families. You can view instructions of how to do this here.
If you have any questions regarding the new Educator Fee Schedule and Agreement Timeframes, or are unsure of how to incorporate your charges and fees into one Fee Schedule, please contact your Service Administrator.
Finally, as we approach the end of another financial year, I would like to say a huge thank you to each and every Educator for your commitment to keeping children safe. Your dedication to children and families is outstanding and your tireless work with completing the policy modules has not gone unnoticed.
Educator Alert | Mindful Meditation
MINDFULNESS WITH JULIAN HEELIS Meditation
Join Julian for this week's mindfulness practice, captured via the link below:
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Harmony Back to Basics and Cashbooks
HARMONY BACK TO BASICS AND CASHBOOKS Educator Training
Thank you to those of you who joined us on Monday 28 February to attend the Harmony Back to Basics and Cash Books training.
If you were unable to attend or would like to watch the training again, a video recording of the sessions are now available to view on the Educator Portal.
Watch the Back to Basics training recording via the Educator Portal, or by clicking on the button below:
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Mindfulness | Body scan
MINDFULNESS WITH JULIAN HEELIS Check in with a full body scan
Join Julian for this week's mindfulness practice, focusing on checking in with yourself by paying attention to your entire being with a full body scan. Activate your mindfulness practice, via the link below:
We wish you calmness and clarity as you navigate your mindfulness journey.
Educator Alert | Children's Health and Safety Policies Rollout
CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICIES ROLLOUT Group 4
Thank you for your commitment to the rollout of new policies as part of the Policy and Training Project. In January, we rolled out 16 new policies to support you to deliver quality education and care for your children. Now, we are rolling out our ninth module within our Policy and Training Project; Children’s Health and Safety, Group 4.
The primary component of this training package is an online, self-paced training module. You will be asked to log in to the training site using the same log in details that you have used for previous modules. Once logged in, you can commence the online training module. This module contains information about the following policies:
Excursion Policy
Water Safety Policy
Arrival and Departure Policy
Acceptance and Refusal of Authorisations Policy
This module also includes our first policy that has been reviewed to incorporate your feedback, the Transportation of Children Policy. Your feedback helps us to ensure our policies remain relevant and up to date. Thank you for your valuable input!
The module also contains information about our grandfathering arrangements to ensure that you have time and support to introduce these new requirements into your service.
At the end of the online training module, you will have the opportunity to download copies of the new policies, resources and the critical reflection and action plan template. Once completed, you can download the training certificate.
Complete the online training module by clicking the button below:
The deadline for the online training module completion is close of business on Friday 25 March. You will then have until Friday 8 April to send your Practice Mentor a draft copy of your critical reflection and action plan.
If you would like further support or have any feedback regarding the training or policy, please submit your feedback via the form below:
We thank you for your ongoing support throughout our Policy and Training Project and your diligent efforts to ensure the continued safety of the children in your care.
