Tag Archives: early childhood education

Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Sing, Play, Connect: Earning Exceeding Through Nursery Rhymes

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

World Nursery Rhyme Week is a global celebration of the joy, rhythm, and connection that rhymes bring to early childhood education. Each year, thousands of early learning settings worldwide participate by exploring five official rhymes that promote language development, cultural belonging, and joyful expression.

In 2025, the five official rhymes are:
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Humpty Dumpty
When I Was One (I Played the Drum)
I Hear Thunder
Two Little Dickie Birds

Nursery rhymes are more than melodies — they are gateways to literacy, numeracy, social connection, and cultural identity. Embedding rhyme and song throughout your educational program builds a strong foundation for communication, belonging, and wellbeing — and when reflected upon intentionally, these practices contribute to Exceeding-level evidence across all 7 Quality Areas.

Early childhood professionals can register for free as official ambassadors and access downloadable packs, lyric posters, and activity ideas at www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Embedding a Recycling Ethos to Achieve Exceeding

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

In today’s context of increasing environmental awareness and global resource constraints, embedding a strong recycling culture within your early childhood service is not just socially responsible — it supports children’s sense of agency, belonging, and stewardship of the world they inhabit. The campaign National Recycling Week (10–16 November 2025) run by Planet Ark Environmental Foundation highlights the “reduce – reuse – recycle” hierarchy and the circular economy as critical to sustaining resources. 

Incorporating recycling into your everyday program supports children to investigate, question, problem‐solve, collaborate and make meaningful change; it aligns very strongly with the Exceeding themes of Embedded Practice, Critical Reflection and Meaningful Engagement. Embedding recycling means more than a one-off activity — it becomes part of your service’s identity, routines, environment and learning culture.

Below are practical educational programming ideas followed by a QIP (Quality Improvement Plan) style write-up for each of the 7 Quality Areas (QA) under the National Quality Standard (NQS), each weaving in the three Exceeding themes.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Honouring Directors’ Day in Early Childhood Education

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

Every thriving early childhood service has one thing in common — a leader who holds it all together. Someone who answers every question, signs every form, comforts every child, supports every educator, and somehow keeps the service running with calm, compassion, and courage.

On November 10, 2025, we celebrate those remarkable people — our ECEC Directors — the heart and backbone of early childhood education and care in Australia. Directors’ Day is a special moment to pause, reflect, and say thank you to the leaders who do so much more than manage: they nurture, guide, and inspire everyone around them.

This day is separate from Early Childhood Educators’ Day, because leadership in ECEC deserves its own light — a day to honour the people who lift others up, navigate the complex world of regulations and relationships, and still find time to connect with every child, family, and educator in their community.

Today, and every day, we recognise the directors who lead with both heart and skill — who carry the weight of responsibility quietly, and whose dedication shapes not only services, but futures.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips, Uncategorized

Promoting Physical Literacy to Earn an Exceeding Rating

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

This November, two national initiatives unite around a single powerful idea — children learn best when they move, play, and connect with the world around them. Physical Literacy Week and Outdoor Classroom Day invite early childhood services to step outside and celebrate movement as learning — nurturing confidence, wellbeing, curiosity, and belonging through outdoor play and exploration. By embracing these events together, services can demonstrate Exceeding practice across all seven Quality Areas, embedding physical literacy, outdoor learning, and community connection into daily routines.

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Childcare Compliance

How do I prepare for a CCS Spot Check?

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

In August 2025, the Australian Government released the Strengthening Regulation of Early Childhood Education and Care Safety through the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) – Provider Guidelines, marking a major shift in how safety, quality, and funding integrity are regulated across the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector.

Under this strengthened framework, CCS approval is no longer just about meeting administrative requirements — it’s about demonstrating a whole-of-service commitment to safety, quality assurance, and governance accountability. The Guidelines empower the Department of Education to use data analytics, risk profiling, and unannounced CCS spot checks to verify that services receiving federal funding are operating safely, ethically, and transparently.

For approved providers and nominated supervisors, this framework acts as both a compliance roadmap and a reflection tool. It encourages services to regularly self-assess their systems — reviewing incident management, staff suitability, documentation accuracy, and financial integrity before any issues arise.

A practical way to prepare is through the Commonwealth’s free Geccko online training platform (Get Early Childhood Compliance Knowledge Online). Geccko helps educators, leaders, and administrators understand their obligations under the Family Assistance Law (FAL) — covering topics such as enrolment integrity, session reporting, gap-fee requirements, and governance responsibilities. Completion certificates can also serve as evidence of staff competence and proactive compliance during a CCS spot check.

Embedding both the CCS Provider Guidelines and Geccko training outcomes into your Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) demonstrates Exceeding-level practice across multiple Quality Areas — particularly QA2 (Children’s Health and Safety), QA4 (Staffing), and QA7 (Governance and Leadership). It shows your service is not only compliant but continually reflecting, improving, and modelling a culture of safety and integrity at every level.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Dressing Up Day: A Child-Friendly Way to Celebrate Halloween in Early Childhood

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

For children under five, dressing up is more than a costume — it’s a window into imagination, identity, and belonging. Instead of traditional Halloween celebrations that can feel too scary or commercial, early childhood services can reframe this day as a Dressing Up or Imagination Day — a joyful, creative experience that honours curiosity, storytelling, and community. In early childhood settings, this is a wonderful opportunity to explore pretend play, storytelling, and self-expression while respecting families’ cultural perspectives. Instead of focusing on fright, we can focus on fun, friendship, and fantasy — encouraging children to share who they want to be and supporting their emerging sense of identity.

Through simple, non-frightening dress-ups, children explore who they are, who they can be, and how they relate to others. They gain confidence, develop empathy, practise communication, and engage in deep, meaningful play that reflects the principles of the Early Years Learning Framework v2.0 and the National Quality Standard.

This approach also models inclusion and cultural respect — recognising that not all families celebrate Halloween in the same way. By shifting the focus from “scary” to “creative,” services can build shared understanding, strengthen relationships, and create an environment where every child feels safe, seen, and celebrated.

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Childcare Compliance

What you need to know about the New National Education Register, becoming mandatory from February 2026

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is entering a new chapter in workforce accountability and child safety. Education Ministers have commissioned ACECQA to establish a National Educator Register—a landmark initiative designed to bring greater transparency, oversight, and consistency across the sector.

For the first time, every educator, teacher, coordinator, volunteer, and support worker in ECEC services will be recorded in a single national system. This foundational register, integrated into the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS), will provide regulators, providers, and families with confidence that the people caring for children are qualified, checked, and accountable.

More than just a compliance measure, the register represents a cultural shift. It is about lifting professional standards, closing gaps in child safety protections, and giving governments the data needed to better plan and support the workforce. While challenges exist—including privacy, workload, and consistency across states—the register is an opportunity for services to show leadership and commitment to exceeding practice.

Testing will begin in December 2025, with full mandatory use from February 2026. Now is the time for services to prepare, so that when the register launches, they are not only compliant but also positioned as leaders in child safety and professional excellence.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Promoting Children’s Rights to Earn an Exceeding Rating

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

Children’s Week is a celebration of children, their voices, and their rights. In 2025, we focus on Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

“Children have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help them stay well.”

For children under five, this means exploring health, safety, fairness, and belonging through play, art, and everyday routines — helping them feel confident that their ideas matter and their voices are heard. These experiences are perfect for embedding rights-based practice and demonstrating Exceeding practices.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Promoting Healthy Eating to Earn Exceeding Rating, Grow, Cook, Share — Food Brings Us Together

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

By BEST Childcare Consulting In early childhood education settings, our responsibility goes beyond simply serving nutritious meals — we play a vital role in shaping lifelong healthy habits and embedding healthy eating as a core value. Food is more than nourishment; it weaves culture, connection, and learning into everyday life. This year’s National Nutrition Week theme, Grow, Cook, Share – Food brings us together, invites services to harness the power of food to unite children, families, educators, and communities.

Drawing on the VegKIT Guidelines for Increasing Children’s Vegetable Intake in Long Day Care and aligned with the National Quality Framework, this article offers practical strategies, Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) write-ups, and ways to embed these ideals year-round.

An important tool to support this is HEAS’s free online training module “Promoting Healthy Eating in Long Day Care”, which equips educators and leadership with essential knowledge and skills in under one hour. Healthy Eating Advisory Service+1 We’ll integrate how to use that to strengthen your service’s capacity as you adopt Grow–Cook–Share.

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Exceeding the NQS BEST tips

Including Children’s Voices in Risk Assessment and Management for Safety

Posted on by Jennifer Scafidas

Promoting children’s safety October’s Safe Work Month is the perfect time for early childhood services to move beyond routine hazard checklists and transform safety into a shared learning journey. Using the ACECQA Risk Assessment & Management Tool (RAMT) as a guide, educators can model real-time risk assessment and then invite children to join the process — spotting hazards, discussing what might happen, and brainstorming safer choices. This approach builds children’s agency, strengthens their problem-solving skills, and embeds safety as part of the everyday curriculum.

Empowering educators and children side by side demonstrates that safety is not just a compliance task but a living culture within the service. Staff critically reflect on hazards, update policies and procedures, and use staff meetings to analyse incident data and refine supervision practices. At the same time, children engage in meaningful, hands-on activities such as safety walks, sorting safe/unsafe images, and creating collaborative posters that celebrate their learning.

By involving families and local community partners — sharing photos, home activity ideas, and trusted resources from Kidsafe WA, St John WA, and the Raising Children Network — services can extend learning beyond the classroom and foster a consistent safety culture. This whole-of-service approach provides rich evidence for all three Exceeding themes (Embedded Practice, Critical Reflection, and Meaningful Engagement) across all seven Quality Areas, showcasing a genuine commitment to continuous improvement and children’s wellbeing.

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