By now, all services have received their individual survey results and have begun developing action plans to respond to their local feedback. Thank you for the time and care you are putting into reflecting on your results and identifying meaningful improvements for your teams and families.
At a provider level, we have reviewed the feedback across our network to identify consistent themes and align our response across St Nicholas.
Early Education
What we heard
- Communication about children’s time at St Nicholas – Families shared that they would appreciate clearer and more consistent communication about their child’s day, learning, and centre updates.
- Educator engagement with children – Families shared that they would like to see educators more consistently engaged with children and actively involved in their learning and play.
- Variety of learning experiences – Families shared that they would like to see a greater variety of engaging learning experiences that support children’s development and reflect their interests.
- Centre environments and resources – Some families provided suggestions around continuing to enhance centre environments and resources.
What we are doing
1. Communication about children’s time at St Nicholas
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- Continue rollout of the St Nicholas App powered by OWNA to allow educators to record information about children’s day, share learning stories, and centralise newsletters and centre communications.
- Standardising communication expectations across centres, including clearer guidance on how updates, news, and important information are shared with families.
- Improving responsiveness to family enquiries, with clearer expectations across centres to ensure family questions and feedback are acknowledged and responded to promptly.
2. Educator engagement with children
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- Introducing additional leadership and support roles across our centres, including Administration and Family Liaison Officers at every centre, an additional Assistant Director at centres with more than 100 places, and formalised Room Leader roles to strengthen leadership support, improve service responsiveness, and allow educators to focus more on engaging with children.
- Strengthening supervision practices across centres, including regular review of supervision plans to ensure children are supported in safe and well-managed environments, and a continued focus on the implementation of Child Safe Standards supported by ongoing training opportunities for team members.
- Supporting leaders to monitor and guide educator practice, through regular observation and mentoring to ensure educators remain actively engaged with children.
3. Variety of learning experiences
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- Appointing a dedicated Practice Support Lead to work across our network of centres supporting educators to strengthen programs and expand the range of learning experiences offered.
- Supporting educators with program planning and mentoring to help ensure experiences reflect children’s interests and support their development. All services have an Educational Leader who works alongside our educators to drive continuous improvement in programming and planning practices. In our larger centres, a second Educational Leader has been introduced to further strengthen coaching and mentoring support.
- Encouraging collaboration across the St Nicholas network, allowing services to share successful program ideas and experiences with one another.
4. Centre environments and resources
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- Continuing to invest in centre environments through generous resource budgets, enabling teams to refresh materials and enhance learning spaces.
- Maintaining a proactive maintenance schedule that supports the upkeep of our centre environments and ensures spaces remain safe and inviting for children.
- Regularly reviewing environments and resources, helping centres ensure spaces remain engaging and responsive to children’s needs.
OOSH
What we heard
- Communication about children’s time at OOSH
Families shared that they would appreciate more information about the experiences children participate in during OOSH sessions. - Enrolment and booking processes
Families provided feedback about administrative processes, including opportunities to make enrolment and booking simpler and more streamlined. - Variety of experiences
Families shared that they value a greater variety of experiences that cater to different interests and age groups. - Educator engagement with children
Some families shared a desire for educators to be more involved in play and to build stronger connections with children during sessions.
What we are doing
1. Communication about children’s time at OOSH
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- Continuing the rollout of the St Nicholas App powered by OWNA, allowing services to share updates about children’s experiences and move newsletters and service communications into one central platform.
- Improving how services share information with families, including clearer expectations around regular updates and service communications.
- Strengthening responsiveness to family enquiries, ensuring feedback and questions from families are acknowledged and responded to in a timely way.
2. Enrolment and booking processes
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- Commencing a comprehensive review of OOSH enrolment and booking processes to simplify the experience for families.
- Introducing improvements ahead of the next Vacation Care period, helping streamline how families book sessions.
- Reducing manual booking steps and improving system visibility, making it easier for families to view availability and manage bookings.
3. Variety of experiences
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- Appointing a dedicated Practice Support Lead to work across services supporting program development and quality practice.
- Welcoming a new Head of OOSH, who will guide services in strengthening programs and enhancing the experiences offered to children.
- Supporting services to expand program planning, ensuring experiences cater to different interests and age groups.
4. Educator engagement with children
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- Strengthening expectations around educator involvement in play, encouraging educators to actively engage with children during sessions.
- Supporting service leaders to guide and mentor educator practice, helping build stronger relationships between educators and children.
- Providing program guidance and leadership support across the network, helping educators create positive and engaging experiences for children.
These actions provide a clear direction across St Nicholas, but real impact will come from how each service brings them to life locally. We encourage you to work closely with your team to reflect on your service-specific feedback, identify the most meaningful priorities, and take practical steps to address the actions relevant to your community. By sharing ideas, supporting one another and maintaining a consistent focus on improvement, we can ensure these changes are embedded in everyday practice.
Thank you for your continued commitment to reflecting on feedback and driving meaningful improvement for children and families.
