Who Can Get CSS?

To be eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS), families must meet the following criteria:

• Parents must:

  • Care for their child for at least 2 nights per fortnight or have a 14% share of care.

  • Be liable for child care fees at an approved child care service.

  • Meet residency requirements.

• Your child must:

  • Meet immunisation requirements.

  • Not be attending secondary school (unless an exemption applies).

  • Be 13 years old or younger (except in certain circumstances).If a child does not attend a session of care at least once every 26 consecutive weeks, they will lose their CCS eligibility.

If the child starts attending care again, the family can make a new claim for CCS.

How Much CCS Can a Family Get?

The amount of CCS a family can receive depends on their circumstances:

• Income Limit: Families with a combined income up to $533,280 are eligible for CCS. The subsidy amount decreases as income increases.

• CCS Rates from 8 July 2024:

  • Family income $0 to $83,280: 90%

  • Family income more than $83,280 to below $533,280: Subsidy decreases from 90% by 1% for every $5,000 of additional income.

  • Family income $533,280 or more: 0%

Number of Children in Care

Families with more than one child aged 5 or under in care can receive a higher subsidy for their second and younger children. The rates for each child are calculated using two separate income tests:

• Standard Rate Child: Usually the eldest CCS-eligible child aged 5 or under, receiving the standard CCS rates.

• Higher Rate Child: The second and any younger children aged 5 or under, who receive a higher subsidy.

The higher subsidy for second and younger children will end when the family's income reaches $362,408 or more.

For more details on how Child Care Subsidy can support your family's child care needs, please contact us.

Support for Families Experiencing Temporary Financial Hardship

Do you have families experiencing temporary financial hardship at your service? They may be able to get extra help with the cost of child care.

Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) temporary financial hardship is for families who:

• are eligible for CCS

• are experiencing temporary financial hardship due to an event in the last 6 months

• have a substantially reduced ability to pay child care fees.

Eligible families can get 100 hours of subsidised care each fortnight. They'll get the lower of either:

• 100% of the fee charged where it's equal to or below the hourly rate cap

• up to 120% of the hourly rate cap where the fee charged is above the hourly rate cap.

The temporary financial hardship subsidy is paid for a maximum of 13 weeks per event.

Families can apply through their Centrelink online account or by visiting a Centrelink office.

We have information about ACCS temporary financial hardship for providers on our website.

Welcome to another exciting edition of the Kidi Kingdom Child Care Hillcrest Newsletter!

Firstly, I would like to welcome all our new friends that have joined the Kidi Kingdom Hillcrest family. Thank you for choosing and entrusting us with the care of your children.

We have all been so busy at the centre in the past few months with centre calendar events, national and international celebrations and most importantly observing and encouraging the children with their interests, independence, learning and individual development.

The children had a lot of fun participating in the trick or treat activities as we celebrated halloween, glad to see so many dressed up for Halloween and also day for Daniel. A special thank you to all our families who contributed to our donation box on the day for Daniel, much appreciated and a great way to contribute to our community. As we begin to move closer to the end of the month with Naidoc week celebrations and also recycling as we created some good recycled items to display around the rooms.

Our aim is to provide a balanced learning environment that incorporates all developmental aspects and opportunities for each individual to develop skills, knowledge and interests through their experiences and learning. We believe we provide a welcoming and positive learning environment where our children can feel comfortable and secure in the absence of their family.

Please if you have any questions or concerns feel free to approach me at reception or simply email us at h@kidikingdom.com.au. Please head over to our Facebook page and we always appreciate our loyal families helping our centre by sharing your positive experiences to the local community by writing a quick 5 star Google, CareForKids or Facebook review.

Kind Regards, Julie Hunter Centre Manager Christina Seuva Assistant Centre Manager

Click here to visit our pages at Facebook and Instagram

Dear Valued Centre Families,

In the past few months all educators have had various activities and arts in their rooms to celebrate the different events that have occurred, as well as continuing to encourage growth, creativity and independence in the children. This is through exploring their curiosity, widening their imagination and observing their interests.

We have been focusing on extending each child's interest, ensuring the room routines continue, updating the hubhello daily, and weekly programmes are prepared and followed. We will continue to observe the children as they engage in play with others and form great relationships with their peers and educators, while expanding on their learning and growing milestones.

We look forward to making positive relationships with our families and hearing your input and feedback. Kind Regards, Ms Cheri Educational Leader.

Kind Regards, Ms Cheri Educational Leader

Dear Valued Families of the Early Learners Room,

We are excited to share with you the latest events and highlights in the Early Learners room for this term. Firstly a special welcome to our new friends Zara, Zaliyah, Maddy, Henry and Cade who have joined our Early Learners room. It's great to see you all settle very well and build a positive relationship with your peers and educators.

Our Early Learners room has been very busy in the past few months, celebrating various events and reaching their individual milestones and skills. In the months of September, October and November the children engaged in various centre events celebrating through activities, arts and crafts, yarning time and music. In the month of September we explored the life cycle of a butterfly and the benefits of healthy eating. In October we focused on learning about colours through sensory activities, arts and crafts and engaging activities to help the children identify and explore different colours. In November we will be focusing on helping the children develop their self help skills and enhance their gross motor skills, supporting them as they work towards achieving key milestones.

It has been a wonderful journey of discovery and learning for our Early Learners.

Thank you for your continuous support.

Kind Regards, Miss Gagandeep and Miss Sarbjit Early Learners Educators

Welcome to the Families of the Junior Early Years Room,

What a great few months we have had in the Junior Early Years Room. It is so hard to believe that Christmas is only around the corner.

In the month of September the children were engaged in a variety of different activities and we explored a lot of different topics. At the start of the month we focused on the topic of Child Protection Week where we focused on asking the children who they felt safe with. We also focused on our senses, the weather and nature.

After this month passed by we found ourselves heading into October where we explored dinosaurs, strawberries, shapes, National Recycling Week and then we will focus on construction before heading into our fun Halloween activities. We had so much fun decorating our room and our door. As part of our busy month in October we had Grandparents Day and Day for Daniel.

For the month of November we will be celebrating all of the upcoming centre events as well as extending on the children's interests throughout each week.

Kind Regards, Miss Kylie, Miss Alexis and Miss Mackenzie Junior Early Years Educators

Hello and Welcome to the Early Years Room,

We have been busy and creative as we started our September month with child protection week. We had visitors come and teach us about child protection, the children were involved with an activity that identifies who they trust and can talk to. We also explored road safety and how to be safe around motor vehicles.

In September we explored insects as the children had discovered different bugs out in the yard and how some insects help around our environment. We are always practicing our self help skills, washing our hands, taking our own shoes and socks off and applying our sunscreen. To finish off our September month we focused on our alphabets as the children showed interest in one of the new toys we had in the room.

In October we continued on our alphabet journey. We have been exploring a new letter each day, which includes brainstorming words that started with the letter and a variety of activities that helps the children to associate the letter with their names, sounds and everyday items. During this month we have also explored recycle week as we collaged, role played and built with different recycle items. We also practiced our sustainability by recycling our paper that we no longer want. We also have been developing our hygiene practices, the children are becoming more self-sufficient and confident.

In November we will continue on our learning journey of our individual letters and building our confidence in our hygiene and self help practices. As the end of year draws near, we will revise what we have learnt throughout the year, colours, numbers, and shapes. We are excited to organize and start being creative with our Christmas gifts.

Kind Regards, Miss Tia, Miss Regina and Miss Jazz Early Years Room Educators

Dear Valued Families of the Kindergarten Room,

In September, we started exploring 'oceans'. We absolutely loved exploring and touching the different sea creatures (sea stars, sea cucumber and sea urchins) during the 'SeaLife' visit. We also loved patting the turtle which Miss Talor from 'SeaLife' brought in. We continued our ocean project with many different activities, crafts and sensory projects.

In October, we enjoyed visiting the Early Learners Room. We took turns holding the babies and enjoyed playing with the babies. Also in October, we developed our independence skills as we made our own pizzas. During this month, we also started to use our 'Woolworths Discovery Tour' kit where we learnt about where our food comes from. We explored our senses as we spoke about what we SEE on a farm, what we HEAR in the supermarket, what food we SMELL at home and what we TASTE at kindergarten.

We have been loving participating in our physical activity program which occurs each Monday with Miss Janai. The children love participating in different games, movement activities and yoga. We were excited to see everyone's costumes for Halloween. The children participated in trick or treating and engaged in different Halloween activities.

During November, we will continue practicing our graduation songs. Graduation will be held at the beginning of December and we can't wait to celebrate the children's wonderful year with you all. We will continue learning our number of the week and are also excited to continue with visiting our vegetable garden each week. We are keen to watch our tomatoes and capsicum grow!

Just a friendly reminder:

• Please ensure your child brings in a drink bottle each day.

• If you have any empty bottles or can you would like to donate to us, please bring them in and pop them into our recycling bin.

Thank you very much for all your support throughout the year.

Kind Regards, Miss Aimee and Miss Kara Kindergarten Teachers

Pest Control

Carpet Cleaning

Ingredients

● 225 ml milk

● 75 g unsalted butter

● 425 g plain flour sifted

● 70 g caster sugar

● 1/2 tsp sea salt

● 10 g fast action dried yeast

FOR THE FILLING

● 75 g butter softened

● 50 g caster sugar

● 2 tsp ground cinnamon

FOR THE ICING

● 1/2 cup icing sugar sifted

● 1 tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Heat the milk and butter in a small pan until it almost comes to a boil, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool down. You don't want the milk to be too hot when you add the yeast or it will prevent it from rising.

3. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle of the ingredients and add the warm milk mixture. Mix everything together until the dough starts pulling away from the side of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm place for 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the filling. Mix together the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until well combined. Lightly spray two mini muffin trays with oil, or grease with melted butter, and set aside.

5. Divide the dough into two pieces. Working with one piece at a time, and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a 20 cm x 30 cm rectangle. Spread ½ the filling evenly over the rectangle. Roll it up using one of the long edges to make a long cylinder shape.

6. Using a sharp knife, cut the rolled up dough into 12 slices. Place each piece into a mini muffin cup. Continue with the other piece of dough until all the cups are filled. Cover the trays with oiled plastic wrap and let the scrolls rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, or until they've doubled in size.

7. Bake the scrolls on the middle shelf of the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the scrolls from their pan and let them rest on a cooling rack while you prepare the icing.

8. To make the icing, whisk together the icing sugar and milk in a small bowl. If it seems too thick add a little more milk ½ teaspoon at a time. Once you have a smooth, runny icing, drizzle it over the scrolls. Allow the scrolls to set before serving.

NOTES

Un-iced scrolls can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.