Enhance Launches Second Family Day Care in Tieri

Little Love Care, an Enhance-registered FDC, will be located at 19 Banksia Street, in the new FDC house generously provided by Glencore Oaky Creek Coal.
Unlike traditional FDC services, which are typically run from the Educator’s family home, 19 Banksia Street has been purposefully converted and fitted out as an FDC house for two Educators to run their daycare services from.

This unique model will provide greater childcare support for the Tieri community as the two Educators will operate on a week-on/week-off roster, including weekends, mirroring the OCC mine roster. Enhance FDC, Queensland’s leading FDC provider, is currently in the process of recruiting the second FDC Educator to join the Banksia Street FDC house.

“Finding great Early Childhood Educators can be tough and slow going, even in big cities. It can be even harder to find those who are willing to relocate to a small regional, rural mining town, like Tieri,” explains Peta Fitzpatrick, Recruitment Officer at Enhance.

“What’s great about this latest model of FDC is that we are not reliant on the Educator moving to Tieri. Much like the DIDO mine workers, the new Educator can drive in from surrounding areas such as Emerald, Capella, Clermont, Mackay or Rocky.

“If feasible, they could do this on a daily basis. Alternatively, they can drive in weekly, and – thanks to the support of Glencore Oaky Creek Coal – be provided with camp accommodation and meals here in town for the seven days, meaning they (and their families) don’t have to relocate. This significantly opens up the pool of talented Educators that we have available to us!”

Tieri, Your Help is Needed!  If you know of any Early Childhood Educators who are looking for a change of scene, or to start up their own business, please encourage them to contact Enhance Family Day Care on 07 38991622 or 0447 127 137 and let the team know they’d like to talk about becoming an educator in Tieri! They can also contact us here www.enhancefdc.au/contact-us.

The Role of Enhance FDC in Tieri Enhance Family Day Care is an approved FDC Service Provider and has registered Educators throughout Queensland, from the Southeast corner up to Cairns. Any FDC Educator must be registered with an Approved Provider in order to operate. For Tieri, that registration sits with Enhance FDC.

Enhance has worked with Oaky Creek Coal for three years to look at ways to increase Early Childhood Education and Care options for families here in town. Lisa Austin-Richards was the first Educator to join the Enhance team in Tieri, with the launch of her Ladybugs and Rugrats FDC service in 2023.

“Back then, it was quite a groundbreaking experience as Lisa welcomed children and families into her family home, where she operates her FDC service from. This was a vastly different childcare experience for the town to come across,” reflects Peta.
“We have loved watching Lisa grow in her role and within the Tieri community. She has provided valuable insights from her FDC journey so far that has helped us identify how we can provide support to more Educators in Tieri.”

A Team of Support
Once registered and ready to open their FDC service, each Educator is assigned an Enhance Practice Mentor who supports them in their ongoing provision of care to the children.
Enhance’s Practice Mentors visit the FDC Educators and their service to check not only the compliance of the physical environment and the required documentation, but also how the children and the educator are going. Are there any concerns with the children? Are any families in need of external support? Are there areas of practice the Educator would like some further professional development in?
The Practice Mentor is backed by a team of support staff ready to assist them and the FDC Educator.

Enhance’s Assistant Manager, Pedagogical Leader and Quality and Compliance Project Officer provide support to the Practice Mentors and FDC Educators in times of difficulty, confusion or crisis. For example, navigating a natural disaster, or sudden changes in legislation that require careful attention. They also provide support with programming, training, compliance checks, visits from the Regulatory Authority and more.
And the Enhance Administration team keeps the enrolment, attendance and payments wheels rolling. They provide one-on-one training to any new Educators, and ongoing support to both Educators and families to ensure that attendances are recorded accurately, payments flow as smoothly as possible, and any little hiccups (like a forgotten PIN) are quickly resolved.

Governance, Compliance and Standard of Care
All Family Day Care services must adhere to the same legislation, National Quality Framework and Approved Learning Frameworks as any centre-based Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service.
In ECEC centres, Educators use the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to guide their practice as they work with the children to develop and review a plan for play and learning.
In OSHC services, Educators use the My Time Our Place Framework (MTOP) for working with school age children to develop appropriate play and leisure experiences.
In FDC services, Educators use both the EYLF and the MTOP framework to guide their practice and program, as they often work with babies right through to children reaching the end of their primary schooling.

“All these service types must have accountability systems built into their work. Enhance supports our FDC Educators through careful translation of the Regulations and National Quality Standards into Policy, Procedures, and expected Practice,” explains Peta.

“The different members of our team each play a specific role in supporting our Educators to ensure they remain compliant and operate their FDC service within the regulations and standards.”

The Evolution of FDC in Tieri
Being an FDC Educator and operating your own service is very different from working at a centre-based ECEC service. For example, you don’t have a teammate to bounce ideas off, such as: “What do you think about trying this with Sam at drop off tomorrow?”.
For Peta and the team at Enhance, one of the most exciting aspects of the growth of FDC in Tieri, is that it provides an opportunity to build a beautiful ‘community of practice’ and peer-support amongst the FDC Educators in town.

“There are opportunities to support each other, share ideas, resources and equipment, meet for walks, excursions, library visits, and more,” explains Peta. “Of course, the children always love to meet up with each other for play dates, but it’s also a vital opportunity for our Educators to connect.”

With the launch of the new FDC house in Banksia Street, two Educators will work shifts across each fortnight, providing care every day of the week, mirroring the rhythm of the mine’s operations and expanding the availability of care. Families will enrol their children with Enhance FDC and generally be linked with both Educators in order to maximise flexibility and continuity of care.

As Enhance recruits for the second Educator to run their FDC service from Banksia St, the Enhance team is looking forward to all of their Educators getting to know each other and the beautiful people of Tieri.

“The Oaky Creek team has put a huge amount of effort into growing the FDC presence in town and it continues to be wonderful to work with them,” she says.
“Together, I believe we are creating something that is truly special so we can meet the needs of children and families in Tieri – it’s an exciting time for sure!”