The 2023-2024 Federal Budget has brought significant changes to the childcare sector, aimed at providing greater support to families and the early childhood education and care workforce. The changes include adjustments to the childcare subsidy, combining parental leave and dad and partner pay, and increased funding for the skills development of early childhood educators.

A less confusing, more concise approach was certainly necessary.

One of the major changes in the budget is the revision of the childcare subsidy. This was announced in the 'Responsible budget' of October 2022 and raised again as a highlight in the 2023-2024 budget statement.

The government has announced an increase in the maximum subsidy rate, which will benefit families with multiple children in care. Families with a combined income of up to $189,390 will receive a maximum subsidy rate of 90% of their childcare costs, up from 85% in the current system.

This will come as a relief to many parents who have struggled to afford childcare, particularly those on lower incomes.

The subsidy rate will decrease gradually for families with a combined income over $189,390, but they will still receive a considerable amount of financial assistance.

The government has also removed the annual cap on the subsidy, which previously limited the amount of assistance families could receive each year. This has been designed to benefit families with higher early education costs and those who use childcare services for longer periods of time.

Another considerable change is the combining of parental leave and dad and partner pay into a single payment, called the Parental Leave Pay. This new payment will provide up to 26 weeks of leave at the national minimum wage, which currently sits at $772.60 gross per week. The payment will be available to both parents, who can choose to share the leave between them or take it separately.

This will provide more flexibility for families, allowing them to choose how they share care. It also aims to encourage more fathers to take parental leave, traditionally taken by mothers.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers also announced that the budget will provide increased support for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. He announced a $1.6 billion investment into the sector, which includes funding for professional development and training programs for educators.

With this investment, the government hopes to improve the quality of early childhood education and care, which we know is critical for children's development. By supporting the professional development of educators, the government hopes to attract and retain high-quality staff in the sector and promote better outcomes for children.

A win for a sector crippled by workforce shortages.

The funding will also support the implementation of the government's updated Quality Early Learning Framework, which aims to improve the consistency and quality of early childhood education and care across Australia.

Education Ministers endorsed the framework in December 2022 after an extensive consultation process stating that, "Throughout 2023, providers, services and educators can familiarise themselves with updated frameworks and begin incorporating them into program and practice. They will become mandatory in early 2024."

The changes to childcare in the federal budget 2023-2024 aim to provide greater support to families and the early childhood education and care workforce.

Welcome Valued Families to our Autumn Edition of the Kidi Kingdom Child Care Springfield's Newsletter.

I would like to start by thanking all our amazing families that have joined us over the last few months and all our existing families for their continued support. We hope you and your child/ren are enjoying your time with us as we continue to promote high quality education and develop your children's learning.

With Winter approaching us, please note the mornings are cooler than expected, we ask that you dress your child according to the weather. Throughout the day we will change them if need be when the day warms up. Please pack extra clothes so our team can ensure your child/ren are dressed for the appropriate temperature.

Back in March of 2023 I would like to congratulate our team on experiencing their first Assessment and Rating together. If you would like to read our Quality Improvement Plan or add any information that we can work towards please see the educators or management in the office and they will be able to guide you. As part of our ongoing communication with our families I would like to invite you all to log into your HubHello accounts and under our curriculum and observation area on your child/ children we would love feedback from the observation that you have read or any information that you would like to share with us.

We have sadly had to say goodbye to Miss Sandy who has made her way down to Pimpama with Miss April. We wish Miss Sandy the very best. As most of you are aware Miss Sarah has started her maternity Leave with her 3rd baby due in June. We also wish her the very best. Unfortunately, Miss Shazna had to start her maternity leave much earlier than anticipated and we wish her and her husband the very best for their first arrival in July.

Miss Shalya has accepted the role of Lead Educator in the Early Years Room while Miss Sarah is on maternity leave. Any questions or concerns that you may have please do not hesitate to message Miss Shayla through Hub Hello or email her. We would also like to welcome Miss Chloe, one of our educators who was a school based trainee. Mis Chloe is now with us every day. We also welcome Miss Belinda who will be assisting on the floor as an assistant educator float. Miss Jay and Miss Guneet who are both working towards their Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care, they will both be assisting rooms throughout the centre as educator floats.

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to see either myself or Ms Chrystle or email us at s@kidikingdom.com.au . You can also head over to our Facebook Page. We always appreciate our families supporting our centre with your positive experiences so we would love for you to share with our local community by jumping on Google or Facebook and leaving us a 5 star review.

Kind Regards, Natalie Andrews Centre Manager Chrystle Smith Assistant Centre Manager

Click here to visit our pages at Facebook and Instagram

Dear Valued Families of Kidi Kingdom Child Care Springfield.

First of all I would like to thank all of our families for their continuous involvement and hope that you have been pleased with your children's learning experiences along with the fun events over the last few months.

As I combine time spent between the office and the classrooms, I am delighted in seeing children thrive in their environments and have also witnessed first hand the relationships that they have made with their educators and peers. As part of the Early Years Learning Framework, all rooms have been exploring a wide variety of subjects including arts, cooking, culture, health, literacy, music, numeracy, sciences and sustainability. Social and emotional wellbeing has also been at the forefront of our curriculum delivery.

In terms of family liaison, we would like to emphasise that your feedback on your child's learning for the day /month /term or year is highly valued- so if you have the time to do so, our educators would absolutely love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave comments on the classroom daily news feeds or monthly observations, this greatly helps with communication where families haven't been able to speak face to face with their child's room educators. This also provides the opportunity to start discussions on information regarding your child's development that either party would like to share or even address particular needs or concerns that you would like to pinpoint at the time.

At Kidi Kingdom we believe that children's learning is maximised through the collaborative efforts of families and educators and on this note I would like to announce that we will be hosting a Parent & Educator Conversations evening in June for preparation for our Mid Year Summative Assessments of Learning. These discussions will provide the space for sharing information and creating relationships with prominent individuals of each child's life. Please keep an eye out for email correspondence, as well as on the HubHello app, for notifications on scheduling one-on-one meetings with your child's educator.

Kind Regards, Chrystle Smith, Educational Program Leader.

Welcome Valued Families of the Early Learners Room.

We are excited to share with you the latest happenings and highlights in Early Learner's room program for this term.

In March, we focused on literacy and creativity by creating a library with a reading corner, a lyric wall and an imagination reading wall. We also promoted healthy habits such as eating well, brushing teeth and using utensils to develop independent and life skills.

Additionally, we explored nature where we increased the knowledge about nature, how to protect our environment and encouraged them to participate in activities like watering the garden. We had a fun art activity where children painted their hands green and imprinted them on a tree to create a sense of belonging and connection to nature. During Environment Week, we learned about recycling, reusing, and reducing waste. We engaged the children in how to greet recycling bins, composting and sorting/matching colors with recycling bins.

In April, we explored nature in the nice weather with children in outdoor play to enhance their gross motor skills and taught them about Sun Safety by applying sunscreen and wearing hats to protect our skin. We also explored technology toys to enhance their imagination skills and encouraged collaborating play, sharing and teamwork. Furthermore, children explored their sensory and artistic sides by experimenting with different textures and colors by mixing sands and colors.

At the beginning of May, we created a music corner using recycled bottles during Music Week where the children learned about the sounds and rhythms of different musical instruments. For the rest of the month, we will involve more activities according to the children's interests. For example, promoting language skills through reading, boosting imagination skills through making art with different materials and enhancing life/ independence skills through cooking.

Our event calendar included various events that promote cultural awareness and respect for diversity, including Harmony Day, Easter Day, ANZAC Day and Superhero Day.

For the upcoming event, we will celebrate Mother's Day, a special occasion to honor and appreciate mothers for all that they do.

As always, we are committed to providing your child with a safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment that promotes growth and development. We look forward to another wonderful term together!

Kind Regards, Miss TaTa and Miss Caroline.

Welcome Valued Families to Junior Early Years Room.

These last couple of months have been exciting here in the Junior Early Years Classroom exploring and extending a variety of different interests with the children.

We've learnt so much such as different types of animals, healthy eating, pre-planning and enhancing children development milestones audit and so much more. When doing activities, we base the learning off of the children's learning and ideas while also benefiting and extending off of their social and emotional well-being.

As the children get older so does their understanding and knowledge of identity and community. We can't wait to see what else we can achieve in the next couple of months. Watch this space!

Kind Regards, Miss Taneeka and Miss Kerrie.

Welcome Valued Friends and Families of the Early Years Room.

Hi, my name is Shayla, I am 23 years of age and I am currently studying Bachelor of Education Primary and Early Childhood. I have a passion for assisting children to grow and learning new skills, this was discovered through many years of coaching netball and starting my journey as an early childhood educator in 2018. I enjoy being a part of children's early years journey, learning new educational knowledge and life skills. I am excited to take on my new role as Lead Educator in the Early Years Room and support the children achieve their goals.

The children of the Early Years room have been extremely busy during the past few months. We have focused on learning new skills and building a foundation for the children to extend their knowledge. During March and April, we explored the following topics:

Mathematics- Focusing on numerical counting. We achieved this by using different modes to assist the children in learning to count. They were; our fingers and toes, flowers, blocks, pom poms and many more. We also explored this concept through the song'5 Cheeky Monkeys, where the children were able to begin to make connections between the words of numbers and their numerical value.

Colours- We tested our knowledge of colours. This was achieved by providing the children with a colourful environment, artwork, toys, posters, clothing items, and bags within the room. During our Yarn Time, we assigned a period to teach the children colours, but throughout the day there were opportunities for the children to have one on one conversations with their peers and educators to test their knowledge on colours.

Easter- We celebrated the Easter Holiday by joining in on the children's excitement for the visit of the Easter Bunny, we discussed all things Easter. The children shared how their families celebrate and we all agreed that we would enjoy eating chocolate on Easter morning. We used our creative arts skills to create our easter hats and participated in the Kidi Kingdom parade.

Space- Following the interest of the children we explored the topic of space. Discovering the different planets, stars and moon that are in our solar system. We practised saying the names of the planets to strengthen our language and literacy skills and to extend our vocabulary.

We worked on many different skills throughout the months, we learnt to: cut paper, throw and catch a ball, worked on our table skills- mastering the skill of using utensils, packing away our items after meal time, and washing our hands before meal times.

During May, we will focus on the children's letter recognition. Our classroom goal for this month is to have each child competently identify and say the first letter of their name. The educator team will aid the children in achieving this goal by providing new activities each day for the children. We will ensure that the activities are engaging, interesting and provide educational benefits.

Kind Regards, Miss Sarah, Miss Reetu and Miss Chloe.

Welcome Families to the Senior Early Years Room.

During the last 2 months and the upcoming month of May we have celebrated much and will celebrate more.

In the month of March the Senior Early Years Room participated in the celebrations of St Patrick's day and harmony day.

The children engaged in activities that were dedicated for these days, using the colours and patterns that represent each event all while learning about the reason behind them!

In the month of April, we indulged in celebrations for Easter, which included our Easter bonnet parade. We spent time learning about Anzac Day and the story behind it and of course super hero day, where the children and educators all joined in dressing up as their favourite superheroes!

For the month of May we have Mother's Day to look forward to, the children in the room are busy making their beautiful gifts for their mums/caregivers. We also have national families week coming up, which the children will engage in with different activities and crafts.

The past few months we have welcomed new children into our room, helping them feel welcomed and safe.

We look forward to welcoming more children in the upcoming future and getting to know everyone a little more!

Kind Regards, Miss Raquel and Miss Maddison.

Dear Valued Families of the Kindergarten Room.

I would like to introduce myself as the new Kindergarten Lead Early Childhood Teacher. My name is Miss Ritu Kalani. I look forward to being a part of the learning journey and School Readiness Programme of our kindy children. I have extensive experience in the field of education ranging over three decades. I have been working in Early Childhood Education since 2014 and have a Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education. I believe that good early childhood care is critical for the holistic development of children. Every child is unique and their individual differences should be celebrated. Children learn through play, so I love to design a curriculum for them that is exploratory in nature. I look forward to forming a partnership with the parents and families to support the learning journey of their children. Please share your child's individual needs and interests, as well as any suggestions you have to support their learning journey.

We are taking care of the Kindy children and offering them a variety of planned and unplanned learning experiences based on the interests and needs of the children. The ongoing learning experiences have been on geometrical shapes, scientific exploration on insects and bugs, animals, weather and the water cycle in addition to literacy and numeracy. Children are developing their pincer grip and are taking an interest in writing the alphabet and numbers. They are also practicing how to use scissors to develop their paper cutting skills. These activities enable them to develop their fine motor skills. Furthermore, these learning experiences help them build confidence, persistence, curiosity and develop their social skills of sharing and collaborating in teams. This will enable them to become school ready. Children have participated in various celebrations including Saint Patrick's Day, Ramadan, Harmony Day, Easter, Anzac Day and National SuperHero Day. We are looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day with our lovely mums. Our Kindy children are very excited about the preparations leading up to it. Congratulations to Ella, Temperance, Elijah, Eleanor, Jaxson, Jazzy, Virinnia, Amara, Harlem, Phoenix and Archie on their Birthdays recently.

A very warm welcome to Olivia and Mikaela who have joined us in Kindergarten. We would like to remind everyone to make sure to pack some warm clothing with the children for the coming winter months.

Kind Regards, Ms Ritu and Miss Anum.