Big Hearted Education

Four educators suspended. But the regulator's own words tell a different story to the one you'd expect.

Part 3 of the breakdown.

Wendy Steendam, Victoria's early childhood regulator, said this provider had failed the children and families who relied on it, AND failed the educators who worked for it. Read that again.

Failed the educators.

Because when one Approved Provider is running 65 residences, the responsibility for every one of those homes being safe, compliant and properly supported doesn't sit with the individual educator alone.
It sits with the governance and leadership above them.

An educator can be doing everything right and still end up in a compliance disaster if the systems around them, induction, audits, escalation pathways, medical processes, were never built properly in the first place.

Providers must ensure their educators and residences are compliant, and provide real governance and leadership. If they don't, the regulator will act. That's not a suggestion anymore.

If you're an Approved Provider and you want to make sure your governance actually holds up, comment "CONFERENCE" and I'll send you the details for Dream Lead Play, where Nicole and I are walking through exactly this on Leaders Day. 👇

"How do you make sure you never end up there?"

That's the question I kept getting after the reel about the 65 homes shutting down. So here's my answer. I don't just talk about compliance. I run it, live it, breathe it, every single day.

I'm the Approved Provider for Rainbow Bridge Family Day Care, operating across Queensland and New South Wales for the past 14 years.

Here's what that actually looks like:
🔹 My educators aren't visited once a year and ticked off. We conduct Safety Hime Checks twice yearly plus monthly support and monitoring visits, in person, every time.

🔹 Real, ongoing support. Not just compliance checks, documentation help and guidance when you've got a child you're not sure how to work with.

🔹 Clear systems and SOPs around medical conditions, so if something happens in a hurry, everyone knows exactly where to go.

🔹 Home safety checked twice a year, plus again at every monthly visit. Never a one-and-done at registration.

🔹 My team knows they can come to me, or my coordinators, the moment something feels off. No waiting.

Governance isn't paperwork. It's a culture, built and driven from the top down. I've built it, lived it, and I understand it inside out.

If you're an Approved Provider and you
want your service future-proofed, this is exactly what I'm sharing at Dream Lead Play, alongside Nicole from Inspired EC.

Comment "CONFERENCE" and I'll send you all the info. 👇

A five month old baby. Found asleep in a cot, with items in there that were an immediate safety risk.

That's what triggered this.

Part 2 of the breakdown, and this is the bit that made me sit with it for a while.

Alongside that unsafe sleep practice, inspectors also found a child who exited a property completely unsupervised, and a child who fell from a highchair.
Add to that inadequate fencing, hazards like poisons and chemicals sitting in the home, and required medical plans and medications not being on hand for children who needed them.

None of these are freak, impossible-to-predict incidents. Every single one is something a proper induction, a proper home safety audit and real ongoing oversight should catch, most of them well before a child is ever at risk.

This isn't about pointing fingers at individual educators. It's about the systems that are meant to sit underneath them.

More on that in Part 3.

🌿 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

What happens when we stop rushing children through their day and give them the time and space to simply 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲?

At 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 ’𝟐𝟔, Nicole Halton is bringing the conversation back to something at the very heart of Early Childhood Education.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲. 💛

On Educator’s Day, Nicole will explore 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐠𝐲, 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 and the value of giving children opportunities to explore, take appropriate risks, problem-solve and deeply engage with the world around them. 🌱

It’s about slowing things down enough to notice what children are already showing us.

Their thinking.

Their creativity.

Their curiosity.

Their capability.

And creating space for richer, more meaningful, 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝-𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲.

✨ Practical ideas you can take back into your Family Day Care.

🌿 More meaningful engagement.

💛 More connection.

And importantly, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞.

If this is the kind of Early Childhood Education you believe in, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. 🌿

🌿 𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑’𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘
📅 Saturday 12 September
📍 Ace Hotel, Sydney

🎟 𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄. Secure your seat while you can.

📩 Comment or message 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 and we’ll send the booking link straight to your inbox.

A Victorian family day care provider just had 65 homes shut down in one week. This should never have got this far.
I'm not sharing this to scare you. I'm sharing it because every single Approved Provider needs to hear it.
65 residences closed for 90 days. 4 educators suspended. An emergency action notice issued over unsafe sleep practices involving a five month old baby.
This isn't a story about one bad educator. It's a story about what happens when governance, oversight and audit-proofing aren't watertight at the provider level. And it is completely avoidable.
Over the next few reels I'm breaking down exactly what went wrong, and more importantly, what needs to be in place BEFORE a regulator ever walks through your door.
Follow along, this one matters. 🔗 Part 5 is where I show you exactly where to start.
Big love
Victoria
📍

👀 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦?

If you’re a service provider who has ever had that little voice asking...

“Are we actually compliant?”

“Have I missed something?”

“What happens if someone comes knocking?”

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 💛

At 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 ’𝟐𝟔, Leaders Day is about helping you get ahead of those questions.

Nicole Halton and Victoria will be walking leaders through practical information to help you strengthen your service, understand your compliance responsibilities and feel more prepared.

Because the goal isn’t to wait until there’s a problem.

It’s to do the work 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 someone ever comes knocking.

✨ Feel more 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦.
✓ Feel more 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭.
💡 Have greater 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.
😴 And sleep a little easier knowing you’ve taken steps to get things sorted.

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝-𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞. 💛

👥 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘
📅 Friday 11 September
📍 Ace Hotel, Sydney

🎟 𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄.

📩 Comment or message 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 and we’ll send the booking link straight to your inbox.