Read our KingKids FAQ’s below to find out everything you will need to know as a parent or guardian enrolling your child into a KingKids childcare centre. For any additional queries, please don’t hesitate to contact our centre’s directly here.
We’re open Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 6.30pm 52 weeks a year, closing only on Public Holidays and if mandated by the government due to serious conditions such as a code red fire threat.
Activities, Education and Care for your child that will keep them entertained and stimulated
All your child’s meals (breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a late snack). Children up to 12 months of age are provided with s26 formula at no cost to you. If you choose to give your baby another brand of formula, please provide this to your child’s Educators. We’re happy to give your child breast milk in accordance with our Breastfeeding policy.
Nappies are provided as required. The Centre has a chosen brand. If you would prefer another brand to the one provided, please send additional nappies in your child’s bag and inform their Educator. Sorbolene is provided on request and as necessary to children when changing their nappy. If your child has special nappy cream please provide this to your child’s Educator.
We apply sunscreen to children 20 minutes before going outside during Daylight Saving months. If your child has a specific brand of sunscreen that they prefer, please provide this to our Educators
Yes, all meals are cooked on the premise.
An Authorised nominee is a person who has been given permission by a parent or family member to collect your child from the Service. This person can also give consent for medical treatment or the administration of medication for your child.
It is important that you provide the Authorised Nominee’s name, address and contact details. We recommend that you include as many Authorised Nominees as possible, so if you get stuck you can call on these people to help out.
We offer both 10 and 12 hour days. At our Rowville centre we only offer 10 hour days for our full time children.
A Complying Written Arrangement (CWA) is an ongoing agreement between an Early Childhood Education Centre service provider and a Parent/Guardian, to provide care in return for fees. The CWA must contain a minimum amount of information as defined by the Government.
We are required to have a CWA in place for each child in their care, as set out in subsection 200B (3) of the Family Assistance Administration Act.
The CWA needs to include all of the following (in accordance with subsection 200B (3) of the Family Assistance Administration Act):
A CWA is required for all families that are attending KingKids. The CWA Agreement must be signed before a child can commence are at one of our services.
For more information please go to the following website: https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/child-care-subsidy
Most families find that two orientations are enough for their children to feel comfortable in our service, however if you and your child want more than two orientations, then that is absolutely OK. It is important that both you and your child feel comfortable and we’ll do what we can to make this possible.
Please do not bring your child in if they are unwell; they are incredibly precious and when they are unwell the best place for them is in the comfort of their home. Also, bringing an unwell child into the Service is putting all children and team members at risk of becoming ill too.
We follow the minimum exclusion period as advised in the Australian Governments National Health and Medical Research Councils publication “Staying Healthy in Childcare” https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/ch55e_exclusion_period_poster_130701.pdf
On the 2nd of July 2018, the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) system came in to affect. The new Child Care Subsidy replaced Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR) with a single, means-tested subsidy. Childcare Benefit Childcare Subsidy (July 2018) Childcare Rebate Child Care Subsidy is designed to provide more assistance to low and middle-income families.
Many families out of pocket cost Child Care fees have fallen between $20 – $30 per week under this new system.
Who is eligible?
Some basic requirements must be satisfied for an individual to be eligible to receive Child Care Subsidy for a child. These include:
Child Care Subsidy Entitlement
There are three factors that determine a family’s level of Child Care Subsidy. These include the Combined Family Income, the Activity Test and the Type of Care that you are applying for such as long day care or family day care.
The number of hours of subsidised child care that families have access to per fortnight is determined by a three-step activity test.
In two parent families both parents, unless exempt, must meet the activity test. In the case where both parents meet different steps of the activity test, the parent with the lowest entitlement determines the hours of subsidised care for the child.
Recognised activities
A broad range of activities meet the activity test requirements, including:
Time taken to travel between the child care service and the parents/ carers place of work, training, study, or other recognised activity can also be included.
Activity hours do not need to coincide with child care hours. For example, an individual undertaking work on the weekends is entitled to Child Care Subsidy during the week.
Low income families with a combined annual income of $66,958 or less who do not meet and are not exempt from the activity test are entitled to 24 hours of subsided care per fortnight under the Child Care Safety Net.
The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) cap amount that will be applied to your account will be determined by the Service Type your child attends.
There is a different rate for Long Day care Centres and Family Day Care. These caps place an upper limit on the amount of Child Care Subsidy the Australian Government will provide. The rate cap will be used, in combination with family’s income and level of activity to calculate the amount of subsidy a family is entitled to receive.
Where a child care service charges less than the hourly cap, families will receive their applicable percentage of the actual fee charged. Where a service charges more than the relevant cap, families will receive their applicable percentage of the hourly rate cap.
Exemptions
There are exemptions to the activity test for individuals who legitimately cannot meet the activity test requirements, such as parents with disability and carers.
Families who do not meet and are not exempt from the activity test and have a preschool aged child who attends preschool at a centre based day care service may be entitled to 36 hours of subsidised care per fortnight. This only applies to the preschool aged child/ren in the family.
To receive this entitlement, the child needs to be in the year two years before grade one of school (based on information provided in the family’s claim) and attending an appropriate preschool program at a centre-based day care service (as reported by the family’s child care service).
Child Care Subsidy Annual Cap
Families earning $186,958 or less per year are not subject to a cap on the amount of Child Care Subsidy they can access. Families earning over $186,958 and under $351,248 have an annual cap of $10,190 per year per child.
More information can be found at:
https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/child-care-subsidy
To determine your actual out of pocket costs you’ll need to know the following:
This information can then be inputted into the following site to determine your out of pocket cost: https://www.childcaresubsidycalculator.com.au/
Direct debits are process on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A $150.00 bond is payable and can be deducted of your final bill.
We allow for four (4) weeks holiday discount per calendar year (Jan-Dec) at 50% your ‘normal weekly fee’. Your ‘normal weekly fee’ is your normal booking from Monday to Friday, not for example Thursday to Wednesday.
We require two (2) weeks’ notice for the holiday rate to apply. Unused holidays do not accumulate or roll over into the next year. The holiday rate will not be applied if your account is more than two weeks in arrears.
Your child can be absent from the Centre for up to 42 days per financial year for any reason and you are still entitled to claim your CCS and you’ll not be required to provide supporting documentation. If your child was to miss more than 42 days of care in a financial year your CCS will not be paid. Special circumstances can be taken into consideration … see http://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/1/1/a/17
Yes, holidays do count as absent days.
Like most employees, our Educators are paid a wage on Public Holidays. Therefore, full fees are still payable on Public Holidays.
We require two (2) weeks written notice when your child is leaving us. If your child does not attend their final two weeks, full fees are still required. The bond that you paid on enrolment can either be paid back into your nominated account or used to pay (or part pay) your final account.
All children in Victoria are eligible to access a kindergarten program in their year before school. To enrol in a kindergarten program, your child needs to be at least four years old by 30 April in the year they will attend the program.
