Exceeding Rating - National Quality Framework.

On the 1st of January 2012 the Federal Government introduced new quality standards that a service must meet, as a part of the National Quality Framework. The following is a brief outline about the new system:

• This system is uniform across Australia and is designed to improve the quality of education and care for all Australian children.
• It applies to most types of early learning services such as Long Day Care (LDC), Family Day Care (FDC), kindergartens, and Out of School Hours Care (OSHC).
• This is the first time that kindergartens have been assessed against a set of quality standards.
• In Victoria, services are assessed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD).
• The rating for a service is determined by assessing the service's performance against 58 standards in seven quality areas outlined in the National Quality Standard (NQS).A copy of the standard is available at the service.
• The seven quality areas are:
• Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice
• Quality Area 2: Children's health and safety
• Quality Area 3: Physical environment
• Quality Area 4: Staffing arrangements
• Quality Area 5: Relationships with children
• Quality Area 6: Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
• Quality Area 7: Leadership and service management.

We are proud to say that our service received an Exceeding Rating in all 7 Quality Areas.

The ratings reflect the high-quality education and care that our kindergarten provides. The skills, knowledge and experience of our dedicated team of Educators and Committee of Management, who have worked hard over the past 5 years to address the quality framework, has made this result possible.

We will continue working to embed continuous quality improvement within every element of our service to maintain the high standards that we have achieved.