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Child Care News for Parents & Carers
March 25, 2015
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One of the most frequent enquiries we receive at Care for Kids HQ is about National Quality Standard Ratings, what they mean and how child care services are assessed. Our article gives you the run down, what the ratings mean and how you can also find reviews and ratings from other parents. If your child is already transfixed by YouTube, online games, Instagram and other online media, our article on the cyber world of our kids highlights some of the dangers, concerns and strategies when dealing with children and the cyber world.
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| National Quality Standard ratings
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What are National Quality Standard ratings and what do they mean to you?
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive at CareforKids is "What are the National Quality Standard Ratings and what do they mean for parents?"
In January 2012 the new National Quality Framework (NQF) came into effect across Australia. Its purpose is to improve and standardise the quality of child care across all 'formal' types of care through a range of measures, including better staff to child ratios, higher staff qualifications and an assessment and rating system designed to promote continuous improvement.
Under the NQF child care services are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standards (NQS). When the assessment is complete, the child care service receives a "rating" and advice on what areas need improvement.
Put simply these ratings are a new way of measuring the quality of early childhood education and care in Australia. The ratings system covers most long day care, family day care, preschool/kindergarten and outside school hours care (OOSH) services.
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Parent ratings & testimonials
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Check out the latest child care ratings + reviews
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| The cyber world of our kids
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| How visible are yours?
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By Sophie Cross
Recently I was hauled over the coals by my daughter's primary school Deputy Head, after the school (which tracks any online mention of its name) found a YouTube post by my ten-year-old daughter, which was deemed inappropriate.
No, there was no porn or self harm or anything awful going on, but my daughter and friends had posted a couple of videos of themselves doing gymnastics in their skimpy leotards and they had also recounted some "embarrassing school stories", mentioning their school's name and the name of a classmate to whom one of these embarrassing incidents happened.
It was all very innocent and not intended to offend or entice. To my daughter and friends all they were doing was filming a funny video and a "how to" of gymnastics in their gear, naïve to the dangers of the perverts who trawl the web. However their actions highlighted the dangers of the cyber world our children live in and how important it is to a. educate them about it and b. make sure we as parents are entirely across it.
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