The year is rapidly ending, and we have only a few short weeks until the end of term. Who would have thought in January that we would have had to continue to negotiate the changing and uncertain environment we thought we had left behind in 2020. Once again the early childhood education and care sector has risen to the challenge to provide quality education to children and support to families all of whom have been impacted by COVID in one way or another. Our Member Infoline fields calls from all over NSW and our team have delivered hundreds of hours of support to members during this pandemic. Your voice is heard and I have been pleased to take your stories and experience to the various consultative groups that I attend, making sure that government understands the challenges that you face and the tangible support that you need to continue to operate. Finding solutions that meet everyone’s needs is a difficult exercise, but I am pleased that we have been engaged by the Department of Education to continue telephone and email support for the Free Preschool initiatives that will continue to operate into 2022.
Our Business Solutions team are gearing up for their busiest time of the year processing Christmas payroll for 61 members who purchase this service. The Teacher work value case adds to the complexity of this year’s Christmas pay processing and whether we process your payroll or if you do this yourselves there are important calculations to be done to ensure that early childhood teachers are graded and paid correctly. Our Christmas Pay Guide is an invaluable resource that is supported by webinars available on our website. There is more information about the Guide and how to access it further in this newsletter.
We are about to release our training calendar for 2022. Now is a good time to book into the series of 8 webinars at a reduced bundled price. Our very popular Coffee, Connections and Conversations will continue next year so look out for more information on those series on our website and emails.
Until next time
Meg Mendham
CEO