How to start a childcare business

[Isabela]

Hi i am currently researching how to start my own childcare centre in ACT,

I have certificate III and Diploma, i also have 6years experience working as an educator in total, 3 years as assistant educator and 3 years as room leader,

Now that i am looking forward in my future both career and personal life, i wanted to move on and have my own childcare centre,

The owner of the house i am living now agreed that i am transforming his house to a childcare centre,

Base in my judgement i can have 15 children max a day in the property the house is a 3 bed room house 1 bathroom and 1 shower room and separate kitchen and living room, and a massive backyard! Enough parking space in the front yard,

I looked at the competition in the area, i would like steiner philosopy and none of the chidcare centre here offer steiner philosophy and vegetarian centre,

Also i research that theres a lot of people looking for steiner education for their children.- so i'm 100% sure this is what i want to offer "steiner philosophy/approach and vegetarian food,including nappies and morning&afternoon tea,

I will do one room for toddlers and one room for preschoolers

for the materials and toys etc and staff i will do that later,

The question are:
1.where do i start?

2. What department should i contact to start the business?

3. Do you have any recomendation that can help me do the business plan?

[Lorina]

So are you wanting to employ other educators?

Or are you looking at looking after the children yourself?

If you are looking after the children yourself, it becomes an FDC (family day care). As an FDC educator, you can only look after 7 children and there are also regulations about the ages of children you can look after.

If you are wanting to turn the house into a full childcare centre you need to get licenced, approval etc.

So, are you looking to be an FDC educator or are you going to turn the house into an LDC and employ others....

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Just wanting to know so I can point you in the right direction!

,
Lorina

[Isabela]

Just wanting to know so I can point you in the right direction!

,
Lorina

Hi Lorina

Thank you for taking time to help me,

Yes i would like to turn the house to a full LDC and i would like to employ educators and a cook, i worked in a small LDC before maximum they can have 15children a day it'/ like a family grouping, but i dont want family grouping i would like to have two rooms one for preschoolers and one for toddlers,

Lorina could you help me please which one i should do first? Who should i contact for licensing first?

[Lorina]

The ratios have changed now, childcare has changed, regulations has changed basically everything has been updated and revised.

For toddlers - the ratio is 1:5
For preschoolers - the ratio is 1:10/1:11 (depending on your state).

Provider Approval

Before operating an early childhood service you will need to obtain a “provider approval”. This is an application process conducted by the Regulatory Authority. This process will examine whether you are a fit and proper person to be involved in the provision of an early childhood service. This is national recognized. To be deemed as a fit and proper person assessed on your history of compliance with current education and care service law, criminal history check and whether you have had any bankruptcy issues. Once submitted you will receive a result in 60 days.

For more information on Provider Approvals: http://www.acecqa.gov.au/provider-approvals

Service Approvals

If you application is successful as an approved provider you may apply to the Regulatory Authority for service approval. Service approval is needed if you will be the operator of the service and will be responsible for the management of the service. This applications requires details on the type of service you will be managing, insurance, permits, policies and procedures etc.

You should get provider approval first...

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Also, when changing a building into a childcare setting you could possibly have to re-do the whole inside layout to make it more child-friendly as well as designing an outdoor environment. I would suggest that since you are not the owner of the house you get this in legal writing between you and the owner of the house that they agree you can transform the house into an LDC! You just need to make sure that you both understand what may happen of turning the house into an LDC, etc.

,
Lorina

[Isabela]

Great advised Lorina! I will start to get me approved first as the operator of the business and from there i will take step one at a time i am kind of overwhelmed but hey this is my dream and i can't wait for it to happen, i understand the new ratio, and yes the idea of having the owner sign and me in legal documents is a brilliant move, i will update you here if i have anymore questions thank you Lorina i really appreciate it

[Lorina]

Yes, the whole process can be very overwhelming but as you said take it one step at a time...

Are you currently working in childcare at the moment? If not, while you are going through the process you can maybe find some casual work so you can scope out the centres, see setups of other centres, how they work etc.

You can also do some research, gather ideas on what you want the environments to look like such as the indoor and outdoor environment, plan the resources you want to buy and a budget etc.

Just an idea, look out for after xmas sales if you want to start purchasing equipment, resources etc. now itself so you're not left with a huge purchase when the time comes...

There is so much for you to do and it's really exciting!

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

You mentioned you want to have Steiner Philosophy implemented at your center... I'm not too sure on Steiner, although I am getting familiar with Montessori as my daughter will be going to a Montessori school next year... I can provide you with more information on Steiner if you would like...

Love the fact that you would like to offer a vegetarian only centre. My family and I are vegetarian so I can really appreciate you doing this! You may have to get in contact with a child nutritionist of some sort to get a confirmation on how you can implement this as by meeting all the child's nutritional needs (as per a childcare centre point fo view).

Let me know if you need anything else, more than happy to help!

,
Lorina

[Isabela]

Hi Lorina

How are you? Hope you still remember our conversation, anyway

I have one question,

I will be the owner/operator of my Childcare centre I am planning to do mix age group, I would like to have atleast 15-25 children and just for example if i have 25 children a day how many hours an ECT required to work with me?

[socialispiice]

Hello,

Following will help you
Contact your local country municipality. ...
Select a location. ...
Contact your county's zoning office. ...
Prepare your facility for inspection. ...
Schedule necessary inspections. ...
Obtain necessary licenses. ...
Obtain necessary insurance. ...
Comply with appropriate tax laws.
More at: http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Child-Care-Business

[Jamessmith]

Hello

Check this link. This link is helpful for your Business .
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/startups ... -business/

Thanks
LINK

[Lorina]

Hi Lorina

How are you? Hope you still remember our conversation, anyway

I have one question,

I will be the owner/operator of my Childcare centre I am planning to do mix age group, I would like to have at least 15-25 children and just for example if i have 25 children a day how many hours an ECT required to work with me?

Hi Isabela,

It's nice to hear from you! How's everything going?

In regards to an ECT, for 25 children and under, you need access to an ECT for 20% of the time. Here is some information I received from ACECQA:

As per regulation 130 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations, if the approved number of places for children preschool age or under at a centre-based service is fewer than 25, the service must have access to an early childhood teacher working with the service for at least 20 per cent of the time that the service provides education and care.
(2) To comply with subregulation (1), the early childhood teacher may be working with the service by means of information communication technology.
(3) For the purposes of this regulation the period that an early childhood teacher works with a centre-based service may be calculated on a quarterly basis.

Therefore, to implement this requirement within your service you should calculate the total amount of hours that your service educates and cares for children across a three month period. Twenty per cent of the total from this calculation is the amount of hours you are required to have access to an early childhood teacher (ECT).

For example, in a five week period, an ECT could work with the service for one day per week for five weeks, or for one whole week of the five. In both of these cases, the ECT would be working with the service for 20 per cent of the time.

The ECT may work with the service by means of information communication technology (i.e. digital communication, email, phone etc.). Therefore, while it may suit the functionality of your service, the ECT does not have to be on the service's premises.

I hope this helps answer your question!

,
Lorina

[Isabela]

Hi Lorina, James and Socialispiice

Thank you all for your response, here's what I have done so far

Applied and Approved are the following:

Business name
ABN
supervisor certificate
provider approval

now what i need to do wait for the provider approval to come and then I will start to get everything done,
like hiring a builder to give a quotation or property survey, what need to be done eg. i need a builder to install a 3 toilet and sink
remove the devider between dining room and living room so I have the space open.

questions:

1.) Do you guys know an accountant or firm that specialized in childcare tax and payroll?
2.) can I hire someone to help me create a policy and procedure?
3.) how about the incident reports and forms etc. do i have to create one?or acecqa will provide them?

Thank you all for your help!

[Sam1390]

I am a new member here and want to give a big thank to the admin who created this unique platform.
I found this post is very helpful for a beginner who wants to start a business in childcare industry.
I need some advice and support to start my career in childcare business.
Is anyone here who can recommend a very good town planner or building certifier to assist me getting DA approval for childcare centre in Sydney region?
Please let me know pro's and cons about this journey.
Thank you

[JoanEllis]

Hi i am currently researching how to start my own childcare centre in ACT,

I have certificate III and Diploma, i also have 6years experience working as an educator in total, 3 years as assistant educator and 3 years as room leader,

Now that i am looking forward in my future both career and personal life, i wanted to move on and have my own childcare centre,

The owner of the house i am living now agreed that i am transforming his house to a childcare centre,

Base in my judgement i can have 15 children max a day in the property the house is a 3 bed room house 1 bathroom and 1 shower room and separate kitchen and living room, and a massive backyard! Enough parking space in the front yard, I would also like to hear some advice about useful software and so on. I already had ideas, and I came across this article about an applicant tracking system and now I think that having something like this is a must. It would definitely be beneficial for a business.

I looked at the competition in the area, i would like steiner philosopy and none of the chidcare centre here offer steiner philosophy and vegetarian centre,

Also i research that theres a lot of people looking for steiner education for their children.- so i'm 100% sure this is what i want to offer "steiner philosophy/approach and vegetarian food,including nappies and morning&afternoon tea,

I will do one room for toddlers and one room for preschoolers

for the materials and toys etc and staff i will do that later,

The question are:
1.where do i start?

2. What department should i contact to start the business?

3. Do you have any recomendation that can help me do the business plan?

Hello!. I know it's an old post, but someone replied and I saw it.
I'm thinking about opening a business too, and I'd love to hear about the experience. Maybe, OP still visits this forum from time to time.
Or, maybe someone else has something to share, positive and negative

[Lorina]

Hi!

Are you looking at opening a Family Day Care or a centre?

,
Lorina