Thank you for taking the time to implement the end of year deadlines to ensure the smooth processing of all new enrolments, ceasing care forms, holiday forms and timesheets, over our busy holiday season. Well done!

As we commence the new year, our Administration Team would like to brief you on the following reminders and housekeeping. We trust the following information will answer your questions and assist in establishing sound administration practices for the year ahead. 

Administration Reminders

School Age Notification
Please complete the School Age Notification Form for all children who are attending care with you and have transitioned to school age care or vacation care arrangements. This information will be updated in the child's file and will also support your ratio of children in care. If the child is finishing or has finished care with you, please complete the Ceasing Care Form.

Reminder: Children who are enrolled to start Prep in 2023 are classified as school age, as of 1 January 2023.

Ceasing Care
If you have not already done so, please review your children in care page on Harmony. If you have children who have not returned to care for 2023, please complete the Ceasing Care Form.

Children only hold active CCS enrolments for 14 weeks from their last day of care. After this time Centrelink will automatically end their enrolment with the service. Our Administration Officers will remove the child from Harmony if they reach 14 weeks from their last day of care. If the family would like to recommence care, they will be required to complete an updated Enrolment Confirmation. If this occurs, please speak to your Administration Officer.

When a child is finishing care or has finished care with your family day care, please ensure a Ceasing Care Form is completed with the family when the parent/guardian gives notice. This must be submitted to the service immediately. This ensures that bookings are ended in Harmony and CCS enrolment ends correctly and on time for CCS compliance.

Updated Bookings
When you complete an updated booking change in Harmony and submit it for processing, your Administration Officer will send out a new Enrolment Confirmation for parents to approve. These are required to be confirmed by the parent/guardian before the change in care commences. Please remind parents to keep an eye out for the Enrolment Confirmation sent through Harmony (Redbourne).
You are required to complete updated booking changes in advance, before the new start date. When you and the family agree to a new care arrangement, please complete a Change Booking Request. Completing this after the care has started causes compliance issues with CCS and duplicated e-signatures in the system.

Invoicing and receipting payment | Gap fees
Under Family Assistance Law, it is a requirement for all families accessing CCS to pay their full gap fees. As their Educator, providing education and care to their children, you are obligated to collect their full gap fees. There are significant penalties and possible convictions for Educators and the service if gap payments are not collected.

Please ensure you keep your invoicing and receipting up to date in Harmony. Regular receipting of payments assists you in keeping track of the accounts to make sure the closing balance on the invoice is correct. If you notice any discrepancies, please reach out to Harmony Support by raising a ticket or contacting your Administration Officer.

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Importance of Signing Children in and out
Please ensure that parents/guardians and contacts are signing in and out of Harmony, and pressing save, every time a child is in care. This can be checked by going to the e-signature tile on your dashboard. Pin Signing via the “Oops Message" should only be used if corrections need to be made due to incorrect signing.

Please read the below paragraph from the Fees for Childcare Policy:

Educators are to ensure that families have signed the child in and out of care for each session of care that occurs. Educators are not to use families' pins to sign the child in and out of care on behalf of a parent/guardian. In special circumstances, as defined by the service, wherein the Educator has to sign the child in and out of care, the Educator will ensure that notes are left on the attendance record to specify why the parent was not able to sign for the child. The service has the right to reject an attendance record and request parent signatures if they deem it is not a special circumstance.

We hope the information provided within this email is helpful for you. If you require any refresher training, please remember all training videos are located on the Enhance Educator Portal. Alternatively, you are welcome to reach out to your Administration Officer for additional support.

Kind regards
Enhance Administration Team
Carmen, Karen, Martina and Sharyn

Save the date!

Our upcoming Enhance Virtual Conference is just around the corner. Join us on Saturday 21 May from 9am to 1pm to Grow, Thrive and Flourish! 

The conference will focus on sustainability practices, cultural awareness and NQS Quality Area 1.

Keep an eye out for the official conference invitation and agenda coming to your inbox soon!

The Enhance Family Day Care marketing team have been creating Marketing resources for Educators. All resources can be found below or under Resources - Marketing.

Enhance Family Day Care Vacancy posters:

Facebook page cover graphics:

Social media tiles:

Please be reminded that the Enhance FDC offices will be closed from Saturday 18 December 2021, to Monday 3 January 2022, in celebration of the festive season. If you experience an emergency during this closure period, please contact us via our emergency number, 07 3899 1655. 

Emergency situations include: 

• When a child visits a doctor or the hospital due to an incident that occurred whilst in care. 
• The health and wellbeing of an Educator is affected and cannot work.
• A confirmed case or close contact of COVID-19
• The closure of an Educator's service due to a natural disaster or if directed by QLD Health

Non-emergency situations include:

• Enrolments of new children.
• Changes in booking requests.
• PIN issues or Harmony issues (please use paper timesheets if required).

The on call process for the holiday season involves:

1. Confirm the event as an emergency situation by referring to the above list. 
2. Contact the Enhance emergency number (07 3899 1655).
3. Explain the situation and await assistance regarding appropriate action.

If an emergency was to occur i.e. a bushfire or flood, Enhance will make the decision to close a service, if schools in the area are also closed. If you have received an order to evacuate, or other warnings from an emergency service, please evacuate immediately and inform your Enhance service as soon as it is safe to do so.

In the event of an emergency, our primary concern is to ensure you, all children, families and the local community are safe. If our office is ordered to evacuate, you will receive an email from us informing you of our whereabouts.

Bushfires and Asthma
Smoke from bushfires is a common trigger among children and adults with respiratory conditions, like asthma. In the event of an emergency, such as bushfires, it is vital to understand the risks and know how to take appropriate action. Asthma Australia has some helpful tips on how to minimise the effect of bushfire smoke, which can be accessed by clicking the button below:

Taking care this storm season
With storm and cyclone season approaching, it is important to know what to do in the event of a natural disaster, this includes having emergency kits and plans in place.
If you require assistance, please contact your Service.

For general information and resources on how to stay safe during a storm, please visit the Queensland Government's Get Ready Queensland website by clicking the button below: