There are so many fantastic festivals and occasions to celebrate with children. How can we decide which celebrations to focus on, and ensure they are celebrated in a respectful way? 

CELA Early Education Specialist Jennifer Moglia shares how we can choose and plan celebrations respectfully, while Educator Anuradha Kaushik shares her experience celebrating Diwali, which occurs this year on 4 November.

ACECQA has released Shaping our Future – a ten year strategy to ensure a sustainable, high quality children’s education and care workforce 2022-2031. This report is the culmination of a series of roundtables and consultation with the sector over the past year, initiated by State, Territory and Federal Governments as part of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. 

The ACECQA Workforce Strategy Report highlights the workforce challenges the sector faces and proposes 21 actions to address them over the next ten years. We share key takeouts and what we are advocating for as the findings are implemented. 

CELA member Karen Roberts, Manager for Children’s Services at City of Canterbury Bankstown, recently won a HESTA Early Childhood Education & Care award for Individual Leadership. In her 45-year education career she has encountered many challenges, but these have only served to clarify her vision as a leader and a champion for children's rights. 

We find out what drives Karen, what we can learn from her experience, and how she will use the HESTA award money for future initiatives to benefit local children and leave a long-lasting social impact on the community.

With the announcement of a return to early education and care from 18 October, ventilation should be on every service's COVID safe plan. Occupational hygienist Kate Cole and built environments expert Adjunct Professor Geoff Hanmer of high profile science group OzSAGE provide clarity around important questions pertaining to ventilation and air quality in our sector while we await a response to questions we have raised about the matter with government.