These policies are currently under development and will be available to download from this page soon.

About 'Policies To Go by'

Children's services need policy documents that are correct in terms of the services legal requirements under various Acts & Regulations, and that address the standards required under the Child Care Quality Improvement and Accreditation System, and also provide clear guidelines about the way the service will be managed and take into account the needs of parents, children and staff involved in the service.

The most common enquiries the Professional Support Co-ordinator receives from Children's Services in relation to centre management relate to some aspect of policy development.

It was in response to these enquiries and to meet the requirements of Licensing Regulations and the Child Care Quality Improvement and Accreditation System that it was decided by the ACT Professional Support Co-ordinator to provide funding to develop a set of sample policies for child care services to use.

The aims of the resource are to:

• provide a resource package that will outline a simple strategy for policy development for children's services operators.

• provide children's services managers with some example policies to guide services to operate within requirements.

• assist services to meet the requirements of QIAS.

• provide a checklist of areas which require policy.

• identify mandatory policies.

• produce a practical kit that can be used as the basis of the centre's Policy Document.

Using the Model Policies

The following model policies are designed to provide guidance to centres on the range of issues they need to consider when developing policy and to afford centres a starting point from which to adapt to meet their own individual situations.

Additional information is also provided within the model policy sections that you may wish to add to your policy document or use to further develop your policies and procedures. This information includes some example forms, agreements and handbook formats, that you may wish to amend and/or adopt for your child care service. It also includes some resources from other bodies. Full details of the origins of these resources are included should you seek further clarification or explanation.

The manual does not cover all policy areas but aims to provide services with a foundation to the basic and essential policies from which to go on and develop those more individual centre based policies that are less essential but act to enhance and develop the service towards higher quality and consistency of standard.

This Resource is to be used as a guide only and specific advice may have to be sought from relevant Government authorities, and Legal/Financial Advisers to suit each Centre's individual needs.