The views and opinions expressed in this article and video are those of the authors. Please use the World Health Organisation or Department of Health to stay up to date on the COVID-19 pandemic. Please also note that with the changing nature of this situation, some of what was communicated may only be relevant during the time it was stated.
anzuk Australia_ COVID-19 Q&A 9- Early Childhood and OSHC from anzuk Education on Vimeo.
Richard:
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Anzuk’s COVID-19 Q&A 9. This is our ninth webinar of this nature. Just before we get started, it’s not quite one o’clock yet, we’re just waiting for our viewers to arrive.
Richard:
For people who are here, there’s a little question bar, and if you could just let me known, confirm that you can hear and see us, and you can see the green screen that says, COVID-19 Q&A 9. If you could do that, that would be fantastic.
Richard:
Courtney, yes. Great. Okay, it looks like everybody can. Fantastic, they’re coming through thick and fast. We’ve got quite a few people already in attendance. That’s great.
Richard:
Okay. Thanks everybody. Now I’ll just run through how we’re going to run this for anybody who’s new. So, we’ve got a number of questions that people submitted when they registered for the webinar. We’re going to go through those first, and then after that, we’re going to go to live questions.
Richard:
Now, the first live questions we go to, we’re going to ask people to hit the little hand button, put your hand up, and we’re going to try and ask you those questions over audio live. That’s our preference, it tends to run a bit smoother if we can use that method. Just be mindful that you do need to ensure that your microphone’s turned on and you’re not muted within the GoToWebinar software.
Richard:
I can unmute you on this side, but if you’ve muted yourself, I can’t unmute you. So just be mindful of that. If we have time, which we may not, given the number of viewers we have with us. But if we have time, we will also take questions through the question bar as well at the end, if we have time.
Richard:
So, it’s 1:01, so we’re going to get started. I think Kylie’s just arrived, welcome Kylie. So I’m just going to introduce our panelists. I’ll start with myself. My name’s Richard. I am the national manager for Anzuk’s early childhood and OSHCC division. And we also got Katie with us from Anzuk. Katie has been working for us for about… Hang on, how long have you been working with us for now, Katie? Year and a half? Something like that. But has about 10 years experience in the sector. Do you just want to give us a brief overview of that, Katie?
Katie:
Sure. So I started working in OSHC when I was 18 years old. Started as an educator myself, worked as a coordinator in OSHC, went up to an area manager for a couple of years, for a company called, Camp Australia. And then decided to venture into recruitment. So I work as a OSHC consultant with another consultant at Anzuk, and very passionate about the industry.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Katie. And now we’ll introduce Monica Phillips. Monica Phillips from YMCA. How are you today, Monica?
Monica:
I’m very well, Richard, how are you?
Richard:
Good, good. And I’ll just get all of our other guest panelists, Monica, just to give us a brief update on, or a brief introduction of your role and your background in outside of school hours care, as well as just a very quick update of where your organisation is at right now in relation to the COVID-19 crisis.
Monica:
Certainly, no worries. So my role is that I work for YMCA Victoria as their OSHC area manager. I’ve been in OSHC for about 10 years with various companies. I’ve also worked with the Department of Education and Training as a [inaudible 00:04:32] officer, and I was in early years learning as well for a little while as well.
Monica:
At the moment we are currently operating 23 OSHC programs that have been operating throughout COVID-19, and we are still in that process as well as school holiday programs from both OSHC, from schools as well as Rex Science as well.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Monica.
Richard:
And we’ve got Julie Price from Community Childcare Australia, Victoria’s Peak Body. Welcome, Julie.
Julie:
Thanks, Richard. A bit of background about me, I’ve been in the education and care sector for too many years to count, I don’t like to count anymore, and mainly in professional development, support, and now in advocacy. So Community Childcare is a Peak Body in Victoria for community owned and managed children services, and we’re also the Peak Body for outside school hours care, and the Victorian member of NOSHCSA, which is the National Outside School Hours Services Alliance.
Julie:
And Victorian sector, at the moment, our prep year one and year two are about to go back to school next Tuesday, and so our OSHC services across the state had very low numbers because there’ve been very strict requirements about who can attend school. So it’s all a little unknown about what will happen next week, and then moving forward two weeks later when the rest of the primary schools return to school as well.
Julie:
Yeah, so that’s the situation for us in Victoria at the moment, Richard.
Richard:
Great, thanks Julie. The unknown, that’s what we’re dealing with at the moment. It makes it hard sometimes to answer people’s questions because a lot of people just don’t, well, nobody actually knows a lot of the answers.
Richard:
We’ve also got Pauline O’Kane. Pauline’s the CEO of Network of Community Activities, which is the Peak Body for New South Wales, for outside of school hours care. Welcome, Pauline.
Pauline:
Hi, Richard, hi everyone. Yes, I’m Pauline O’Kane, I’m the CEO for Network of Community Activities. We’re the Peak Body in New South Wales for OSHC services, as we call them in New South Wales. And we’re also the member organisation for our national Peak, NOSHCA. I guess about me, I’ve been in this sector, like Julie, for more years than I care to state, at least over two decades in Australia, but I also worked in this area in the UK, and it’s surprising the similarities across the miles, as you would know, as an organisation.
Pauline:
I guess in New South Wales we’re all getting hyped up because we have a firm, big statement saying that all children will return to school on Monday, and I guess with big statements in COVID-19, there lacks a lot of detail. And I am continuously reading the detail so that we can break down and support our sector in New South Wales by any means that we can.
Pauline:
So, my point of view out there, Network is constantly working in an ever changing environment, but I see our role is really to dissect the information, get it user-friendly to you. So thank you for the invitation today. And a shout out to all the OSHC’s out there who are doing such a good job. Thank you.
Richard:
Thanks, Pauline. Yeah, there’s so many people in the education sector at the moment doing an unbelievable job. So, thanks to everybody that is out there doing their best. It is a challenging time.
Richard:
We’ve also got Kylie with us from QCAN, and Kylie’s also the chairperson for NOSHCA, the national body. So welcome Kylie.
Kylie:
Thank you, Richard, and thank you for the invitation to be involved in this panel today.
Kylie:
I guess a bit of background about me, I’ve been working in outside school hours care since the late ’80’s. I started as an educator while I was undertaking a teaching degree, as many of our workforce have. I was one of those people that graduated from my degree, but as a converted person, where outside school hours care was a place that I wanted to be. So I ended up staying at outside school hours care as a qualified teacher because I just found working in the sector so joyful and challenging and rewarding.
Kylie:
So for the last close to 15 years, I have been the CEO of QCAN. In this role, I do training resourcing, advice, and advocacy, and have been very much rewarded by being able to be the chairperson of NOSHSA and extend that advocacy more broadly. So we are doing a lot of work together in that space, and Pauline and Julie would be able to support that in thinking about exactly what Pauline said. Dissecting the information as it comes available, and trying to interpret that for the sector.
Kylie:
In Queensland, we step up back to school next week, and we know that means all children every day. So we’ve had a fortnight of our senior students, 11 and 12’s, and junior students, as well as essential workers at school. That’s gone well. So we’ve been behaving well, so we’re about to send everybody back to school now. So we’re really excited about that.
Kylie:
I’m super excited because I have been working from home and doing the learning from home program, and I can attest to anybody else who’s been doing that, that has been an incredible challenge. So school goes back for us. We’re expecting potentially 80% to 95% of attendance back at school, which we think will have a slide effect to outside school hours care, standing back up to capacity.
Kylie:
So our sector is looking forward to some sort of new normal in the next couple of weeks, as they get their families and their children back, and they get to embrace them. So we’re very excited about that.
Richard:
Yes, the new normal, we’re all looking forward to a bit more normality, I think. It’s very exciting.
Richard:
We’ll move on to our first question. So thanks for everybody that submitted these questions when you registered. We’re going to work through them.
Richard:
The first one is from Angeline in Melbourne. And I think… Oh, sorry. What is the need for causal educators moving forward?
Richard:
We’ve spoken about this at length in our webinars. We’ve got Monica Phillips from YMCA. I thought it’d be good to hear from an organisation that’s running services, on where you think this is likely to go, Monica. You’re muted, I think, Monica. Can’t hear you.
Monica:
I honestly believe that… Can you hear me now?
Richard:
Yep, can hear you.
Monica:
Yep, beautiful. I honestly think casual educators are a pivotal part of OSHC. We can’t operate OSHC services without casual educators, it’s a part of our day-to-day operations. A lot of our causal educators have been stood down over the past six to eight weeks due to COVID, however we have been conducting welfare checks and wellbeing checks on them, making sure that they are aware that they are a valuable part of our workforce, and that they are valued as a part of our ongoing operations.
Monica:
So, absolutely, I do think there is a need for casuals moving forward, and bringing them back onboard as school ramps up in Victoria.
Richard:
Great, thanks Monica. Absolutely, I think that… Well, certainly what we do know for certain, is the demand is going to increase in the coming weeks and months, that’s pretty much for certain, unless we go backwards on COVID-19, which I hope’s not going to happen. But we never know, we never know.
Richard:
Another question from Melbourne. We’ve got Nafisa, I might be pronouncing your name wrong, Nafisa, apologies for that. How are our pupils expected to social distance within OSHC programs? This one’s for you, Julie.
Julie:
Thanks, Richard. Thanks, Nafisa.
Julie:
I guess the emphasis around social distancing has been around adults, social distancing as opposed to children necessarily social distancing. But equally, thoughtful ways that we’re delivering our OSHC programs as far as how many children might be seated at a table during different activities, or at meal times and things would be one consideration about social distancing. And possibly the types of activities and games that, maybe in the past there’s been some more close physical contact and wrestling as a result of some games that you may choose not to have on the agenda during the next few months.
Julie:
But because the advice about the spread across children of COVID-19 is that it doesn’t spread very much between children, the social distancing rules are not the same for children as they are for adults, which is what we’ve been talking to our services about.
Richard:
Yeah, great.
Julie:
Not sure if any of the others have other advice that they provide.
Richard:
Yeah, does anyone want to add to that?
Pauline:
The only thing that I was going to add, is New South Wales Health, in conjunction with the National CentreImmunisation for Immunisation, did some really good research. And I’m happy to share the link that can go out to people on this webinar. But it really actually endorses what Julie’s saying. And I think it makes for essential reading for all OSHC educators if they’re feeling nervous about the transmission of COVID-19 between children.
Pauline:
Our biggest risk is the adults in the service, and it’s like school, and having precautions for the adults rather than children. But I found this research really helpful in terms of, when I shared it with educators, it really just, it’s a piece of research, it’s limited, but it backs up that conversation around the transmission between children. Thank you.
Richard:
Thanks for that, Pauline.
Richard:
We had Michelle from [inaudible 00:16:39] a few weeks ago on the show, and she referred to that as well. And we actually did post it on the blog, Anzuk blog at the end of that webinar. I think it was our sixth webinar, I could be wrong on that. But what I’ll do is I’ll ensure that we post that link for this webinar as well, when we post this on the blog. And for anybody who misses it, or you’ve got colleagues that you’d like to ensure that they see this webinar, it is recorded, and we will be posting it on the Anzuk blog.
Richard:
Just looking at the next question. So, the next one is from Carolina in Chatswood in New South Wales. And this one’s for you, again, Pauline.
Richard:
Can you provide any advise in relation to COVID-19, in terms of outdated procedures for our school centres?
Pauline:
Okay, now I think there was a little bit of a focus on this question about transport. Am I right?
Richard:
Yes, yes. Yep. Sorry, transport from school and centres. I just wonder if our marketing teams put the two questions on separately, or whether they’ve left the… Oh, there we go. Transport from schools to centres under the current regulations. There you go.
Pauline:
So, going through the first part of the question, one of the things that I really want to reassure educators in our sector, is I am always awe inspired by hygienic practices that already occur in children services. So I think educators need to be really confident that your hygiene practices are really good and thorough anyhow.
Pauline:
Obviously with COVID-19, we go back to some of the basics that are really lifelong skills for children and adults, and the best thing, I’ve got friends that work in health, I’ve got friends that work in infection control. And washing our hands, and using those simple principles for basic hygiene, will serve you really well in this current health pandemic.
Pauline:
And the other thing that I want to draw to people’s attention, I guess it’s following on a little bit about Julie, and the transmission. [inaudible 00:19:14] adults are risk. Groups of adults coming closely together, are the things that we should avoid. And I know that many at Cyber School [inaudible 00:19:27] Services in New South Wales are already putting in practice, limiting parents coming into the service, limiting visitors. And you just need to continue with these really great practices that you’re doing.
Pauline:
We know our OSHC parents love to have a chat, so I think what is also really helpful, is when we’re in a fearful time such as COVID-19, over communicating with people. So explaining to your parents, we’d love to have a chat but during COVID-19 we’re going to have to give you a phone call, we’re going to have to do it online. And changing your practices, which are all commonsense things to implement, will really aid your limitation of spreading infection.
Pauline:
When it comes to transport, obviously there is multiple ways that services use to transport children to a service. It could be on a vehicle that they hire from somewhere, so they’re not in control of who’s used that vehicle prior. So making sure that you have rigid hygiene practices in place before you pick up your children. It might be that you walk children to the service. Well, what we know about COVID-19, is getting children outdoors is really good for their health and mental wellbeing.
Pauline:
A part from crossing the road, I would really encourage your children to look up and see the sky, and get filled with nature, and the beauty of it, because that will be good for their mental wellbeing. But I think, I guess I want to emphasise and reassure services that you already have great hygiene practices in place. And when it’s children maybe using equipment, in terms of your adequate supervision, you would naturally, if children are putting things around their mouth, which obviously is a concern in COVID-19 times, you would make sure that that toy, or that piece of equipment is cleaned in between usage.
Pauline:
But I want to endorse that having children at your service, there is going to be many children that are just desperate to get back and play with their mates, and we know that that is going to be really positive for them, and we can’t emphasise that enough.
Pauline:
But I think they have really good rigid hygiene practices in place, and it’s just continuing and heightening those practices. I know there’s many people in the school environment that are learning from us educators about hygienic practices. Thank you.
Richard:
Thanks, Pauline, and that study you were talking about, I’ve just posted the link into the chat bar there, so if anybody wants to access that, you can do that by clicking on that link and we will, as I said, we will post that onto our blog with this webinar, which will go up around tomorrow afternoon.
Richard:
Looking at the next question here. And I think this one is for you, Kylie. Let me just see who this is from. This is from Anita in Bonnie Mountain, I’m not sure where Bonnie Mountain is, but it’s somewhere in Queensland.
Richard:
If a child presents with a fever, is there a time period as to how long they need to stay at home?
Kylie:
That’s an interesting question, and I think it is a bit more complicated than a child just presenting with a fever. I think it’s really important that we’re aware of other symptoms that the child may have, and given that we are implementing this heightened hygiene measure and we’re looking very thoughtfully at how well children are, and children who are presenting as unwell being passed, and [inaudible 00:23:50] within their rights to ask children not to be sent to outside school hours care if they are unwell.
Kylie:
My recommendation would be, if the child presents with a fever, then other symptoms should be considered. They should consult a medical professional, and their return to the outside school hours care service should be up to the advice of a medical professional. I think it can be really dangerous for us to start making medical decision, or decisions that should be informed by medical professionals on a case-by-case basis. And I think the best guidance, we are seeing children have fever and they’ve got particular symptoms, seeing a medical professional and make sure that they’ve got clearance before they return to the service. And the service is within their rights to request that process be undertaken.
Julie:
Can I just add one little thing in there, Richard.
Richard:
Yep, absolutely.
Julie:
Totally concur with what Kylie’s saying. What we’ve been talking to services about as well, is just have our outside school hours care services got a space where they can isolate a child if they do present with a fever, or they’re unwell. Often in long daycare centres the child is in the direct coordinator’s office while they’re waiting for their family to come and pick them up.
Julie:
But because many of our OSHC services are set up and pack up every day, it’s probably a good time, at the moment, and particularly moving towards vacation care, thinking about, have you got a space specifically to isolate a child if they are unwell until their parent comes and picks them up.
Julie:
So just something to be thoughtful of at the moment, in particular.
Richard:
Okay, thanks, Julie.
Richard:
Okay, we have a question here from Rhonda in Melbourne. How can educators engage with children at centres with the current safety limitations in mind. Similar to a question we had previously. But are you able to expand on this one, Monica?
Monica:
Yes, certainly. I think it’s really important to remember our learning framework, as well as our national quality standards during this time. Quality Area 5 and the ongoing outcomes for children. Relationships for children are extremely important, they’ve got so much happening in the media and with what is happening at home, restrictions on going out, et cetera. So I think it’s important to, especially in the OSHC sector, empower our children to understand what is happening, and empowering them to understand the limitations that adults need to take in that space as well. But also allowing them to continue to build those relationships, and engage them as a part of the processes that we’ve had to adapt on an ongoing basis.
Monica:
So for example, we have stopped our parent entering into our services. We temperature check our children when they come in to our service, but the children have adapted these practices by offering and being waiters and waitresses and things like that, as a part of greeting the families at the door. So actually engaging them as a part of that process, and actually being mindful that they need to be that 1.5, not always in schools. In Victoria, we haven’t adapted that for our school processes, it’s not a requirement. But when families are dropping off and touching base with those children, that we’re actually talking to children about the limitations and our safety concerns.
Monica:
And we also are looking at the elements with regards to when we’re serving food, hygienic practices, and Pauline’s a little bit a while ago on hygienic or washing hands, making sure that we’re wiping down surfaces, additional cleaning practices, and engaging children in those processes as well, and talking to them about the why, why we’re actually doing those elements, especially in our OSHC services.
Richard:
Great, thanks Monica.
Richard:
Just having a look at the next question here. And this one has come from Jo in Sydney. What is your advice on how to manage capped numbers due to lack of staffing, and hence angry parents?
Richard:
This is an interesting one right across the sector, including early childhood, but potentially even more pronounced in the outside school care sector. This one’s for you, Pauline.
Pauline:
Okay, so we’re talking about cranky parents. Who would have thought that there would be any cranky parents out there? And no better people to deal with cranky parents than OSHC educators.
Pauline:
I am in awe of all of you about how you deal with the high expectations of parents. Look, I think you have to obviously keep your cool, whenever anybody gets cranky, and in COVID-19, we have seen some unusual behaviour. We have also seen behaviour of extraordinary kindness.
Pauline:
So when you’re dealing with the cranky parent, please the person who has recently shown that extraordinary level of kindness at the back of your mind, and that will help you to stay focused. At the end of the day, parents are going to be getting desperate for their children to get back to OSHC, get back to normality, and our services are not going to be able to turn on the tap of care straight away.
Pauline:
So each and every service needs to do what is best for their individual service. If you can’t manage your organisation in a safe way because you can’t get the educators to start on Monday, and you’ve got not enough space, whatever the issue is, I think you just need to over communicate that to parents, be agreed as a team on what your approach is going to be for services in New South Wales from Monday of next week, and explain this to parents.
Pauline:
I think sometimes as OSHC educators, we undersell our great skills of negotiation, and our great ability to know what is right for our individual service, and our individual community. And I really believe, and I really have confidence and faith that if you give a really good rationale to a parent on the whole, the majority of parents are out there to support you. At the end of the day, you have stayed with your services open through the most challenging time that I have ever seen in my history of living. You’ve woke up every day, you’ve got a beautiful smile on your face, you’ve listened to the cranky parents, you’ve listened to the parents who are there giving you a pat on the back. So I guess, in short, stand tall, be confident about your decision, and communicate it well. And bring your champions from your community, who are going to support you.
Pauline:
I’m a parent, I know what the parent network is like in school yard, and if you’ve got one parent who is your champion saying, “You’ve got to understand that they’re doing the best they can, given the difficult circumstances,” they will really come onboard with you.
Pauline:
And, hello Jo, I know the person who’s put this question in, and I would say back to you, Jo, no better person than you, Jo, to deal with the cranky parent. Thank you for the question, I loved it.
Richard:
Thanks, Pauline, thanks Jo.
Richard:
The next one is more of a financial focus, but somewhat similar. This one’s for you, Kylie. It comes from Sarah in Regents Park in New South Wales this time.
Richard:
How are we to run on relief money if all schools return and numbers are greater than half?
Kylie:
It’s an excellent question, and I think given that schools are standing up again, it is something that is in the forefront of any provider’s mind, is how they’re’ going to meet the potential demand for care financially.
Kylie:
Now, we’re working in an environment at the moment where, call it a fixed income. So you can basically determine what your fixed income is, now that you know your JobKeeper eligibility, and your 50% business continuity payment. And using those two figures, which are your fixed income, you’re able to determine what your capacity for care is.
Kylie:
Now we’ve seen in the report that was released yesterday, that the government put together on the four week survey, that there is no expectation that providers provide care beyond what their financial capacity is. However, there is a supplementary payment or top up that is available. And so if your demand for care is beyond what you’re able to deliver within that fixed income, then that might be a suitable solution to you.
Kylie:
But what I would be suggesting, there’s been a lot of feedback about that supplementary top up payment, and in the meetings that I’ve been involved with in the department, they’ve reported that a lot of the applications have been rejected, not because the provider’s ineligible, but because the application hasn’t been completed correctly.
Kylie:
So, I would be suggesting to you that if you do have great demand for care, and you want to meet those care needs, and you aren’t financially able to under your fixed income, then make the application for the supplementary top up payment. Do it in a really timely way, because these applications are taking some time to get processed. But follow the guidance that the Australian Government have provided on how to complete that application, so you give yourself the best chance of success.
Kylie:
Somebody else might have something to add something to that as well.
Monica:
The only think I’d add, Kylie. The timeliness is really important because that funding for exceptional circumstances is only backdated to the date that the application is lodged. And so if you’re concerned about the viability of your service, because of numbers and lack of income, you need to put that application in well, make sure you’re doing all the right thing, as Kylie’s saying, filling in all the boxes correctly, but do it quickly because it’s only backdated to that lodgement date.
Richard:
Great. Do we know, is there a particular area where people are going wrong when they’re filling out that paperwork?
Kylie:
We’re hearing that’s it actually comes down to some basic information. So not putting in the right service name, like maybe a service is called something slightly different, and we’re not given the detail. But one of the examples I often see, is when you abbreviate your name, but the name that the department has is an expanded version.
Kylie:
So make sure that you [inaudible 00:37:10] all the details, that it’s [inaudible 00:37:19] that they rejected on that basis. It does, I think it works really well [inaudible 00:37:31]. I think it’s more basic [inaudible 00:37:39].
Richard:
Thanks, Kylie. I think a bit of feedback there from your microphone, Pauline. Potentially, I’m not sure [inaudible 00:37:49]. But it’s horrible. Might just be to mute your microphone in between speaking.
Pauline:
Sure.
Richard:
Thanks for that.
Richard:
Okay, all right let’s look at the next question. Okay, and this one’s for you, Pauline. It’s from Stacy. How can we keep three and four year olds separated?
Pauline:
Well we can’t. Look, I don’t know who… Thanks for this question. In New South Wales, we don’t have a lot of three and four year olds that attend outside of school hour services. Julie might want to add to this, but I think it’s very difficult to keep three and four year olds separate. I think it goes back to the advice that we were given and the information earlier, that basically you have your hygiene practices, you look after the adults in your space, and you minimise that sort of contact.
Pauline:
But I think with children, they don’t get socially isolating, that isn’t a term that’s easy for them to understand. But I know as a former play worker, when I was organising games for children, and you’d say, “Can you all stand one meter apart,” they’d forget that.
Pauline:
So if you actually say to children, if you’ve got them all huddled together, give each other a bit of space, and you actually can say to children, “Look, we’re in this pandemic, and we all just want to space out when we’re inside,” it’s talking about physically distancing to children when you need to talk to them about it.
Pauline:
But the reality is, the transmission is very low, and there has been hardly any cases that have demonstrated children to children transmission. So I think we want to keep a commonsense approach, and not fill children with any further fear than they’ve already been through with.
Pauline:
They’re going to be excited to come back and play with their friends. It gave me so much joy recently when I was driving past a high school and I saw all the kids come down these steps. And there were no adults around, they couldn’t socially isolate from each other because they were just overcome with excitement at seeing their friends that they hadn’t seen for nine weeks.
Pauline:
So I think we have to go back to the research and the medical advice, and we just have to take a common-sense approach to this situation.
Richard:
Thank you, Pauline.
Richard:
I’ve just been looking at the time, and [inaudible 00:41:04] so we just try and [inaudible 00:41:06] up a little bit. [inaudible 00:41:10] a question here for Julie.
Richard:
How many government schools have got JobKeeper?
Julie:
Thanks, Richard, and Kath.
Julie:
I’m not sure exactly of the number in Victoria. The information we have is if the school council and the school have a separate AVN number, then the school council employees will be eligible for JobKeeper. However, if the school council and the school have the same AVN number, the common will consider them as state government employees, and therefore they cannot access JobKeeper.
Julie:
But I’m happy to have a chat with you further, Kath if you want to give Community Childcare a call and I can talk in more detail about that one if you like.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Julie.
Richard:
And we’ve got a question here from Paul. Sorry, I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing your name correctly, either. Paul in Melbourne.
Richard:
Any special health and safety tips for educators? And this one is for Kylie.
Kylie:
Okay, thank you. I have to declare that I am not a health expert, so I’m going through exactly the same spaces that everybody else is going to, to find out this information.
Kylie:
But there is an amazing resource. And Safe Work Australia has, on its website, a resource for educators. And you can actually go onto the website and it gives you the option with some dropdown boxes. So I am an employer, I am a worker, I work in, and you can choose early childhood education. And then there’s a whole list of topics that you can access information on.
Kylie:
So I’m reading it now, it says, and I’m looking for information on, and they list physical distancing, health monitoring, hygiene, cleaning, PPE, masks, gloves, mental health. There’s a whole range of great topics that are addressed in this area. Everything’s about working from home.
Kylie:
So one of the things that I saw in the physical distancing, as an example, but I thought it was interesting, is that it actually addresses educators who might travel to work together. And it has specific recommendations for car transport when there are more than two people who work in the same environment together, and who are travelling to work together.
Kylie:
So my suggestion would be, go to the Safe Work website, because it’s full of factual, helpful, articulate information, and you can drill down to the kind of specific information that you might be seeking. So it’s a great tool.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Kylie. And we’ll put that on the blog, the link to that website as well.
Richard:
The next question. I’m after advice on COVID-19 cleaning producers, and any specific advice for toys and equipment. Now this one has come from Lakshmi in Sydney, and it’s for you, Pauline.
Kylie:
You’re on mute, Pauline. Pauline, you’re on mute.
Richard:
You’re on mute.
Pauline:
Sorry about that. Thanks for the question, Lakshmi. And it’s a great question.
Pauline:
We’ve talked a lot about heightening your cleaning practices, and I think I know the reality of many of out of school hour services, and you might get a rough clean once or twice a week. Certainly, I know that schools in New South Wales have activated up their cleaning, and it’s going to be happening every day. And I think this is good for services to take on board.
Pauline:
But again, when it’s toys and equipment, I guess outside of school hour services have given children a lot of agency in terms of accessing the equipment and play equipment during the session. And you might need to have to think about limiting that.
Pauline:
Obviously put out a reasonable amount of equipment, but I’ve been into centres and they set up their service like a toolbox, and everything’s on offer. And I think this is great because kids need resources to be involved enrich play experiences. But throughout COVID-19 you might need to be a little bit mindful.
Pauline:
The other thing that I would say to you, is in terms of our adequate supervision, we’re always monitoring what children do, and if you do see children putting pieces of equipment in their mouth, you might, as part of your practices, and encouraging children to take responsibility, get them to wash that piece of equipment after they’ve used before they put it away.
Pauline:
The great thing about our school-age children is that if you give them a really important task, and you articulate it in a way that is really exciting to be engaged with, they will really rise to the challenge. I can remember years ago having Henry in my service, and he was the cleaning Nazi. And he was always going around other children in check. So I think there are lots of innovative ways. And it’s almost in the same way that I think services during vacation care turn rubbish bins into rubbish monsters. And it’s a way, it’s just a strategy of getting kids to adapt to another way of working.
Pauline:
And I guess what I really love about kids and educators, are they really good at adapting to different ways of working. So, there is no need to be overly implementing different practices to what you’ve already got. I guess it’s just more mindful that COVID-19 and this pandemic is an infection, and you put your infection hat on, your infection control hat on, and you act accordingly.
Pauline:
So giving high-use toys a good clean at the end of every night would be a good thing to do during the pandemic.
Richard:
Thanks, Pauline. Yeah, the monster, I’ll try that one with my kids, see how that goes.
Pauline:
It works really well, Richard.
Richard:
Next question, and Brooke from Sydney here. I think we’ve already covered this one. We’ve got a repeat on this one, but are schools providing extra space for social distancing? I guess the short answer is, a lot of schools are, but as [inaudible 00:49:13] touched on the risks are really with adults, that’s where the much higher risks are.
Richard:
So moving on from this one.
Pauline:
I might just add, Richard, if I can. Because, Brooke, and hello Brooke. I know Brooke really well.
Pauline:
Because you’re in New South Wales, the BASC Reform team, which is part of the New South Wales Government, the before and after school care reform team, are happy to work any service that needs extra space. And there was a letter that was sent out to all services in New South Wales asking did service’s need extra space, whether it was to isolate a child because they present with the fever during the session, or just so that they’ve got more space so that when they’re inside on a rainy day, they’ve got more adequate space so children can spread out.
Pauline:
So that might be helpful for Brooke.
Richard:
Thanks for that, Pauline. Greatly appreciate it.
Richard:
We still are getting a bit of feedback. Okay, is Anzuk considering moving online for incursion programs in after school care, vacation care, and early childcare centres?
Richard:
This one is for you, Katie.
Katie:
Thanks, Richard.
Katie:
Look at this stage we are not looking to move to any sort of online learning. We found in the last few weeks that the teachers that are requested in schools, are requested to go physically to the school, and they’re using their permit, and stuff, mostly for online learning from home.
Katie:
So I guess the answer to that question is, no, we’re not.
Richard:
Great, thanks for that.
Richard:
And I’ve missed a question now. Let me just see if I can go back one.
Richard:
So this one’s for you, Kylie. Are you able to offer any advice for us on taking on new families under the current funding model? This is from Karen in Hobart.
Kylie:
I think this is a really tricky situation for services. Certainly, if new families are wanting to enrol and use care, services can do that. You must take into account, I guess, your capacity to do so given that you’re operating in a context with a fixed income.
Kylie:
I would also, probably because we’ve had feedback on this, that some families who weren’t previously using care are wanting to take it there, to have the opportunity to access care at no cost. If families are wanting to access care and have an intention to continue to access care, where they haven’t previously, I think it would be really important to connect them with Centrelink and to encourage them to go and make that connection so that when CCS does switch back on, that they are eligible for that care at a reduced fee.
Kylie:
So that will be really important for any families that are new, that haven’t been registered for that before. But somebody else might have something to add on that, in terms of advice for families, too.
Richard:
Okay, thanks, Kylie. Looks like that one’s covered.
Richard:
So this one is for you, Katie. I’m new to Anzuk, I’m just wondering how many shifts to expect per week when services and centres return to normal.
Katie:
Well first all, welcome to the team. I think this is from Queensland, if I’m not wrong, so I hope Mel and Chloe have treated you well.
Katie:
You know, in Queensland we’re only currently working with early childhood centres, so this really relates to that. And during this pandemic, obviously, most service providers and centres have seen a decrease in children attending. So obviously with that, we have a spiral effect of rest shifts for our educators.
Katie:
It’s really hard to give an exact number of how many shifts you can expect per week when services return to normal. What I would do is encourage you to log onto our app, onto Ready 2 Work every morning, are ready for work, and we will then be able to contact you as a priority for any work in your local area.
Richard:
Yeah, thanks for that, Katie. And I’ll just add to that very quickly.
Richard:
Right across the three states, we operate in, we are seeing an increase in available shifts, not so much in OSHC or USHC just yet, but particularly in the early childhood sector. There is an increase in shifts. For Queensland and Victoria, it’s still coming off a low base, but we’re back to about 10% of where we’d normally expect to be, actually a bit above 10% now.
Richard:
We are having some issues with, our teams are phoning educators and they’re not answering their phone. And it’s really important at this point in time, that you keep your available up to date with our team, and answer your phone when they call because the reality is, if it’s morning, they need to get those shifts filled as quickly as possible. They’ll go to the next person, and services, more so now than ever with COVID-19, they want the same people back. And so if you miss that shift, you’re not necessarily missing one shift, you might be missing a whole terms worth of work because you’re likely to be the person that gets requested back.
Richard:
So just keep that in mind, keep your phone on, and keep your availability up to date with your consultant.
Richard:
When will the free childcare end, and do you have any updates on whether this will be extended? And who did we have answering this question? We had Kylie answering this one, and this was from Amanda in Wodonga.
Kylie:
Okay. Another really good question that we really don’t have the answer to.
Kylie:
What we know is that childcare subsidy, or that the kind of business continuity payment is continuing until the 28th June with the intention of potentially go back to the CCS model from the 29th. Though we know that there are options being explored, and nothing has been agreed to or landed on at the moment, we would hope and NOSHCSA has certainly been advocating to government for outside school hours care to make a decision quickly on this because we’re trying to get our vacation care programs prepared, and wanting to know how we communicate to families about what kind of fees they may or may not be expected to be charged.
Kylie:
We were hoping if the decision comes quickly, and there are certainly options on the table, nothings been decided yet. There’s a possibility that there could be some extension to the existing program with some other thinking that goes into it to do what they’re talking about, softening the landing for families and going from a free care environment to paying for care.
Kylie:
We’re certainly supportive of additional safety nets, in which anyway the government goes, to make sure that services are going to be sustainable, and that families do have access to accessible and affordable care. But we’re keenly aware that for many jurisdictions, the timing of those business continuity payments ceasing, and free care ceasing, are run to when we start vacation care, and we go into the most expensive component of care that our sector provides.
Kylie:
So there’s a lot of things that are being considered. I would say from NOSHCSA’s perspective, we are out there advocating on behalf of the sector, trying to influence government as best we can to be really considerate of the unique context that outside school hours care, but it is a case of, watch this space. And we hope that more is revealed in the next week so that our services have certainty for the future about what that funding environment’s going to look like.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Kylie.
Richard:
Should we be reducing our capacity when you’re in multi-purpose space where there are many school staff passing through? And I think Monica you were going to answer this one.
Monica:
Thanks, Richard.
Monica:
It’s in the OSHC space we know that we operate out of many different areas within the school, and we know that sometimes this is very difficult to maintain as a part of each OSHC area. For us, we have reviewed our spaces, and we’ve actually closed off when we’re looking at entering of families, which doors our families are entering in. At a couple of our sites, we had two areas in which families were entering, and we’ve actually asked families only to enter through one, so we can continue with that temperature checking, hygiene practices of wiping down door handles, et cetera.
Monica:
So, I think this is a question, it’s a fantastic question, but I think it needs to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, where you operate from. And having those open discussions with the schools about where and how those staffs are actually passing through, saying that you’re trying to up your hygiene practices, you’re reflecting upon the number of people walking through those areas, can you support us in this space to ensure we haven’t got as many people walking through that area, including those staff of the school itself.
Monica:
But it’s really dependent on your space, but having those open conversations and communication with the school is very important.
Richard:
Thanks, Monica.
Richard:
And, we are running out of time. We’ve got, I’m going to just go to one last question. So this one is from Denise and it’s for Julie.
Richard:
What are services doing with regards to drop off and pick up at OSHC services to ensure the health and safety of educators?
Julie:
Yeah, thanks to Richard, and thanks, Denise. Good question.
Julie:
And Monica’s already talked a little bit about the things that YMCA are doing as far as protecting the health and safety of their educators. In other states, we hear that schools aren’t letting families onto the site, and so there’s a pickup and drop off zone at the entrance to the school, and therefore outside of school hours of care services are needing extra educators to go and collect children, and then take them back to that spot.
Julie:
I haven’t heard of that happening or being planned so much in Victoria at the moment. But certainly, either limiting where the adults are coming into the service or even having the drop off space outside the indoor environment, is something worth thinking about. Because the biggest risk is that adult to adult contact, and trying to keep 1.5-meter distances, especially people are coming in and out of one doorway, that can be really challenging. So am not knowing, Denise, the [inaudible 01:01:52] school environment, but just thinking about your environment and all the other environments people are working in, and how you might limit the adult access and content that adults aren’t then touching all sorts of different services inside the outside school hours care service.
Julie:
Maybe keeping them outside is an easier way to manage that drop off and pick up time, if that’s possible in your environment. As Pauline was saying, each environment is so individual, we really need to look from context to context each time.
Richard:
Yeah, great. Thanks, Julie.
Richard:
Essentially we’re out of term in terms of it’s two o’clock. There’re quite a lot of other unanswered questions, I’m not sure if any of our panellists would be able to stick around any longer. I’m very wary that you’re all very busy people. But if anybody does want to stick around longer, we will continue to answer the questions coming through for maybe another 15 minutes.
Richard:
Otherwise, thanks for joining us. It’s been an absolute pleasure to have you all, and we’ve had such an expert panel this week, with such comprehensive answers, we haven’t been able to fit all the questions in.
Richard:
Is there anybody able to stick around a bit longer?
Kylie:
Thank you but I’ve got another meeting that I’ve got to get to, but thank you for having me on the panel today. I really enjoyed participating.
Kylie:
Thank you very much.
Richard:
Thanks very much, Kylie, for joining us. Greatly appreciate it.
Pauline:
Hi, Richard. I’m happy to stay for another 15 minutes.
Richard:
Yep, okay. All right, great. Well, we’ll keep going. Kylie’s off. It’s tricky, we’re lots of very busy people and we [inaudible 01:04:06] two o’clock, but we’ll try and get through a couple more. We’ve got one more here.
Richard:
anzuk COVID-19 policy. So if you’re an active educator with us, if you log on to the Ready 2 Work app, this is in there, and you’re asked to read up and agree to it. So that where that policy is located.
Richard:
And, look, this one’s an interesting one. I’ll put you down for this one, Pauline. It comes from Jacqueline in [inaudible 01:04:50]… We are getting a bit of feedback through… I’ll just ask you to mute your microphones if you’re not speaking, please.
Richard:
What impact will COVID-19 have on the childcare industry in the future?
Pauline:
Okay, thank you, Jacqueline.
Pauline:
This is a great question because this starts to get us thinking about the future. I think I want to focus on the positive, and I think what has been really, really important for me as someone that’s worked for many years in this industry. Being often seen as the poor relation, COVID-19, although it’s been disastrous on many fronts, it has so given much more visibility to OSHC and the great work that they do out in the community.
Pauline:
And that goes across children services. I certainly walk around my community with more visibility about the people that are really important in the pandemic. And I think our service school now, services workers have really shown their strength and their resilience, and I take my hat off to them, I mean, all of them, and I have to commend them.
Pauline:
But I think going forward, it has really shown our resilience, but it’s also showcased us as a sector, as being an essential service that families rely on. So, that is a fantastic outcome.
Pauline:
The other thing that I wanted to focus on, is one of the things that showcased to me, is that we have a very complex set of legislation for children services, education and care services, including at OSHC, across Australia. And if you have to put a system to bed because you cannot manoeuvre it, navigate it, make it work in a pandemic, it really tells me that we need to re-look at that system.
Pauline:
And I think that we have a really essential opportunity in the ear to government because I’ve never been in so many meetings with government, I’m almost seeing them more than I’m seeing my own family. And what has been great about that, yes it’s given us the visibility, but it’s also really given us the opportunity to give them feedback on components that just don’t work.
Pauline:
And I think that they’re going to take that and champion that in the future, and I think we all have to be advocates for actually saying, “Now let us review the system, and get a better system for all these essential services, that families critically rely on.”
Pauline:
The other thing that I want to say, is giving a shout out to those educators and other people from the panel might want to chip in, is I know that in New South Wales, outside of school hours services are innovative, they’re creative, they’ve been doing Zoomies with children, they’ve been staying connected to isolated families. One service even delivered packs.
Pauline:
They are the hub in the community. You only have to see the way children interact with the educators that they will be so excited to see on Monday and tell them all about what has been happening in this hellish lockdown. I think it’s really giving recognition to those educators out there that do that great work with children and families every day. And they are the hubs of the community, they are the family support systems, and they often go unrecognised for that work.
Pauline:
And I just want to shout out about that.
Pauline:
The other thing is, I don’t think that we’ve seen totally the end of the ripple effect of COVID-19, and I know that there will be a lot of educators that will be, by the end of next week, looking out for certain children who are the vulnerable children from COVID-19. And I know that children have missed out on play, it gave me so much joy in my community to see children out playing on Sunday at the local play area. And we can’t underestimate the value and the importance of play.
Pauline:
And I know that us educators are often the advocates for play, and we need to be shouting more than ever about the value and importance of play in children’s lives. So, I don’t know whether that’s totally answered the question, but I just wanted to focus on a few positives that I’ve picked up during COVID-19 working with this awesome sector.
Pauline:
And Julie might want to add, and Monica might want to add, as well as Katie and Richard.
Pauline:
Thank you.
Monica:
I wanted to reiterate the [inaudible 01:10:50] Pauline. The team that I have been working with have been resilient, they have been creative, they’ve been adaptable, they have been amazing to continue to bring this essential service to the families that are utilising our services.
Monica:
So I reiterate exactly what you have said, the teams that I have been working with have had to adapt to some practices within 15 minutes of being told something.
Monica:
So it’s been a journey over the last six to eight weeks, and to work in this OSHC sector, and the amount of resilience, creativity and adaptability that has been had over the last six to eight weeks, has been amazing.
Richard:
Absolutely. And I think, Julie, you wanted to add something as well.
Julie:
Just one, I’ll be quick, Richard, because I’m looking at the clock.
Julie:
Totally reiterate what Pauline and Monica are saying about the fantastic educators that we have in our sector. Just one little head up to be thinking about the second half of the year, that many of you will have student teachers as employees in your services, and because no ones been able to do placements in the last six months, all those student teachers will be wanting to do placements in the next six months.
Julie:
So thinking about that, doing some planning around who’s going to be out on placement and when, if you possibly can, that would be one thought about the workforce. Your workforce over the next six months, and the implications of COVID. And the other thing is that some universities do allow student teachers to do a placement in outside school hours care, so check in with your staff, if they are able to do a placement in your service, and therefore not have to step out of your service, will be something to think about and a bit of local advocacy for your own service that you can consider.
Julie:
So, yeah, that’s one tiny impact that we’re starting to hear about and think about as far as moving into the future, Richard.
Richard:
Great, thanks, Julie.
Richard:
And look, we’re pretty much at quarter past. We’ll take one more question very quickly. I think there was one here for Monica from Christian in Melbourne. Monica, will OSHC shifts go back to normal once the Preps ones and twos go back to normal school on May 26th? Bit of a crystal ball, one, Monica.
Monica:
Thanks, Richard.
Monica:
Christian, you do need a crystal ball for this, absolutely. But what I can advise you is that, yes, Preps ones, twos are going back next week and will be attending our OSHC programs. But I don’t see our services going back to full capability from the 26th. Maybe from the 9th of June when we’ve got our three, four, five, and sixes that will join our other services, our other children attending. We will see some normalcy coming back to the sector of OSHC, but for a lot of our sector, we may only see it restarting to ramp up again at the commencement of term three, as well, depending on the circumstances of families who are working from home, and who have the capability of picking up and collecting their children, or dropping off their children because they are working from home.
Monica:
So, it is a bit of a crystal ball question, but I hope that gives you some indication on where to from here.
Richard:
Great, thanks for that, Monica.
Richard:
Well, it’s quarter past two now, so we better leave it there. But, look, it’s been wonderful having you all, so thanks very much for everybody who has listened in or watched in today. And also our special guests, they’re people that know this sector inside out, are absolutely at the forefront of what’s happening with the government and the policy on this. So your time here has been absolutely invaluable for our viewers.
Richard:
So thanks very much for having us, for joining us, and yeah, have a good day everybody, stay safe, and we’re heading in the right direction. It won’t be long and we’ll be back to some level of normality.
Julie:
Thanks, Richard.
