18 JunELAA CEO update 18 June 2021
Some great news to kick off this fortnight’s CEO Update …
ELAA was pleased to see confirmation from the Victorian Department of Education and Training last night that more staff working in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. This extension relates to staff who interact with children living with a specified underlying medical condition or significant disability. ELAA welcomes this announcement which is aimed at protecting vulnerable children. We will continue to advocate for priority vaccination for all ECEC workers. CLICK HERE for further details.
With COVID-19 restrictions easing across Victoria I encourage services to make sure they are monitoring the COVID-19 Update emails from the Victorian Department of Education and Training. Recent Vic DET COVID-19 updates have focused on mandatory QR code scanning and service obligations regarding management of visitors and pick up and drop offs. You can subscribe to the Updates via the subscribe link in each Update. CLICK HERE to view the latest update.
We were also thrilled to learn that our Director – Advocacy Solutions, Megan O’Connell, has received a Medal of the Order Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021. Megan’s award was for service to secondary education. As a leading education research consultant, Director of The Parenthood, and former Director of the Mitchell Institute, Megan is well placed to lead ELAA’s advocacy program in pursuit of our vision – equity and excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care. Congratulations Megan.
Member renewals
A reminder to ELAA members that our membership renewal period is now in full swing. Make sure you retain access to our member advisory service; tailored resources for service management; great discounts on products, services, training, and specialist consultancies; sector news; and member-only updates on key issues by renewing your membership today. We’re also encouraging non-members to find out more about all the benefits ELAA offers Early Childhood Education Service providers and to take the opportunity to sign up to an ELAA membership. More information on renewing memberships and joining ELAA can be found by CLICKING HERE .
Phones are back on
As announced in the previous eNews (June 2) our Member Solutions Team has resumed our much valued telephone advisory service after more than 12 months of maintaining an email-only service due to COVID onsite staffing restrictions. New investment in technology now enables us to re-open the telephone advisory service regardless of whether our member solutions team are based in the office or at home. The phone service is currently being run on limited hours as we trial the technology and call volumes. Phone enquiries are therefore available each week day from 10am – 3pm, however, our existing email enquiry service to membersolutions@elaa.org.au will continue to be monitored during normal business hours.
Learning opportunities
Finally, we have some great professional development sessions coming up in the second half of June as part of ELAA’s ‘Learning Brought to Life’ series. The Ending the year on a high – Planning your AGM and Successful Handover to the new Committee sessions on June 21 and 23 are perfect for Committees of Management and the Classroom Culture: The 5 Principles live online session with the Crisis Prevention Institute is ideal for early years educators looking to establish a positive and calm learning environment. More details on these sessions and more live and self-paced PD sessions can found by CLICKING HERE.
Take care and see you next term.
David Worland
CEO
