Take a tour

Call the service to book a tour. This will ensure someone is available to show you around and answer your questions.

Ask questions

Some questions you may find helpful to ask include:

• What is your quality rating?
• Are places available for the day/s and hour/s I need?
• What days and times do you open and close?
• What do I need to do or who do I speak to if I need to change the hours of care?
• What are the fees?
• Are there any fee subsidies or assistance from the government ot help with costs? For more information visit fees and subsidies
• Are there any other costs I’ll be asked to pay over and above the fees? E.g. Enrolment fee, extra for public holidays?
• How will the service’s program support my child’s learning and how will my child’s development be communicated to me?
• What is the approach for transitioning between rooms and transitioning to school when ready?
• How many educators are there to children?
• What is the process if my child is unwell, upset, or unsettled?
• Can families be involved in the service and how?
• What do I do or who do I speak to if I have any concerns?
• Does the service provide meals (and nappies if required) or are these brought from home each day?
• Can you show me where the children sleep and tell me how often you check them?

Download our Choosing a service checklist (PDF 109 KB).

To download this flyer in other languages, visit the early childhood education translated resources hub.

This relates to the educational programs a service delivers. Educational programs should align with the Early Years Learning Framework or the Framework for School Aged Care (PDF 542 KB) and should be play-based and age appropriate. An example of how a service might show it is meeting the standard in this quality area is by demonstrating that children are encouraged to express ideas and participate in decisions about the program.

Services must ensure that children are safe at all times and must prioritise the health and wellbeing of children attending the service. This includes through healthy eating, proper management of medication, infectious disease control, safe environments, proper supervision and up-to-date policies and procedures. All policies and procedures must follow best practice principles and guidelines.

The physical environment at a service should be well maintained, safe and designed to stimulate learning. Indoor and outdoor environments should encourage children to learn through enquiry and play.

Services must comply with the National Law and Regulations and have suitably qualified and experienced educators, coordinators and staff members. They must also ensure adequate supervision and always meet the required educator to child ratios.

Staff at a service should have positive relationships with children that are supportive and encouraging. Staff should also support positive interactions between children. A service that is doing well in this area will be able to demonstrate that children are encouraged to collaborate, learn and help each other through intentionally designed group experiences and games.

Education and care services should involve families and communities in their planning and day to day operations. In a service that is meeting the standard in this quality area educators regularly inform parents and carers about their child’s learning and development and use their feedback to improve the service’s operations.

Good leadership and sound governance contribute to the overall quality of the service. Accurate record keeping and ongoing review of policies and procedures ensure that children are healthy and safe. To demonstrate how they are meeting this quality area a service might show a Quality Improvement Plan or Self-Assessment process that is used to set goals and strategies for quality improvement within the service.

Significant Improvement Required - Service does not meet one of the seven quality areas or a section of the legislation and there is a significant risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of children. The department will take immediate action to address the issues.

Working Towards National Quality Standard - Service provides a safe education and care program, but there are one or more areas identified for improvement. If a service is rated ‘Working Towards’ the standard in any of the seven quality areas, it will have an overall rating of ‘Working Towards’ even if it is meeting or exceeding in any or all of the others.

Meeting National Quality Standard - Service meets the National Quality Standard. Service provides quality education and care in all seven quality areas. The NQS sets a high benchmark, an overall rating of ‘Meeting’ is a great achievement.

Exceeding National Quality Standard - Service goes beyond the requirements of the National Quality Standard in at least four of the seven quality areas.

Excellent rated by ACECQA - Service exceeds the requirements of the National Quality Standard across all seven quality areas. Note this rating is not awarded by the Regulatory Authority.

Choosing a quality education and care service for your family is a big decision.

Understanding the quality rating of a service is an important step in your decision-making.

Services are assessed and rated along a quality scale. In NSW, this scale is represented by a coloured star graphic, giving you important information about a service’s strengths and areas for improvement.

Quality ratings are not a pass or fail system, they’re designed to promote continuous improvement.

Find out more, ask a service about their quality rating.

Narrator: There are many different factors that will influence what early childhood education and care services best suits your child and your family. A quality early childhood education and care experience will help your child to make the best start in life and learning. There are a wide range of service types to choose from depending on your needs. These include long day care, preschool, family day care, occasional care, mobile services and Multi-functional Aboriginal Children's Services.

For school-aged children, you might also be considering outside school hours care or vacation care. Before you start looking for a service, you should first consider your child's age, development, health, social and emotional needs, and any cultural and religious requirements. You may also need to think about the days and hours your child needs care, the type of service that will be needed and your preferred location.

Having a few options will increase the likelihood of finding a service that's the perfect fit for your child and family. Once you've chosen a service type, research what services are available in your preferred location and community. During your search remember to check the services quality rating, philosophy, hours, fees, program options, involvement with families and local community, and availability. In NSW, early childhood education and care services are regulated and assessed by the NSW Department of Education.

Looking up a services quality rating using the NSW early childhood education or outside school hours care finder is an important step in the research process. The finder also includes information like the service type, addressing, contact details, opening hours and distance from your address. It's important to take the time to visit the services. Taking a tour of a service provides a great opportunity to look around, meet the educators, ask questions, and see what feels right for your child and family.

Laurin – Parent, Long day care: Our first impressions, during our initial visit, were the staff were very warm and inviting when we came into the service. They were very engaged with the children. I've got two children here at the service, but my daughter, my eldest, she was quite a timid little girl. So when we came in, what I asked her was, you know, how did her tummy feel after being here?

And she said that her tummy felt really nice. So that was a really good indicator for us that it was a nice service.

Jaymi – Parent, Family day care: When I first started looking for a service from Maverick, I think the biggest factor was that he would be happy going there and that it fit into our schedule. When considering family day care, I factored in times and opening hours, and there are only four kids at family day care here at any given time, so I feel like that's a real close-knit family. Every day when I pick him up from family day care, it seems like he's learning something new, whether it's colours or new numbers or the alphabet or a song, it's just amazing. He just, yeah, he's really going really well here.

Children learn through play. When children play they are exploring, taking risks, engaging their imagination, solving problems and learning about themselves and where they fit in the world. Quality early childhood education and care services create environments that encourage children to engage in play-based learning experiences that help them learn and grow.

Today we have the café, so the children were learning about taking turns, they were reading recipes, making cakes, they were entering orders, taking orders. They’re mimicking what their parents are doing, what they are seeing out in the community. In this type of play we’re really focusing on building lifelong skills for the children. We want them to have a good understanding of numeracy, of literacy, social skills, communication skills, and really just building them up so that they can be the best that they can be in their life.

Some parents might think, you know, our children just play all day, where does the learning come in but the play that occurs here is actually very, very carefully planned. It’s intentional and it’s very, very purposeful.

Some of the skills our children are learning in the mud kitchen include collaboration, negotiating roles, being imaginative, and being creative.

At our preschool we believe that technology is a powerful tool for learning. So, at the moment our children are learning Arabic through the ELLA (Early Learning Languages Australia) app. We utilise expertise of our children and families to teach us how to pronounce the words correctly. We want our children to learn there is different languages, there’s different cultures. We want them to appreciate and accept these differences.

These are just a few examples of how quality early childhood education and care experience can teach children important skills that will help them now and into the future as they transition to primary school and beyond.

For more about preschool and early learning experiences visit the NSW Department of Education’s website.

Imaginative play can include role play, puppets, engaging with the natural world and making up games and stories. Some examples of play-based learning are:

• Playing games with others.
• Expressing self through painting, craft and collage.
• Listening to, making and moving to music.
• Listening to, making sense of and creating stories, songs and rhymes.
• Using senses to explore the environment including sand, clay, water and natural materials.
• Using tools and resources to be curious, investigate, construct and take apart.