We are committed to supporting the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector and their families as we continue to manage COVID-19 safely in our community.
The health and safety of children and ECEC staff remains a priority.
Find services in your area:
Early childhood services
Family day care and outside school hours care
Daily operations
Early childhood community and sessional kindergarten, long day care, family day care and outside school hours care services are open and are not impacted by any current COVID-19 restrictions.
If a service is closed for any reason, such as COVID-related staff absences, information will be provided on the
early childhood services closures website.
Attendance
Children who are enrolled in and education and care service can physically attend if they are well.
Anyone who is unwell should not attend.
Whilst there are no mandatory home isolation requirements, early childhood education and care services are responsible for ensuring the effective management of infectious diseases including COVID-19.
As set out in Queensland Health's
Time out poster – Keeping your child and other kids healthy, COVID-19 remains a condition that requires a person to be excluded from a service.
Queensland Health guidelines provide guidance to services around appropriate exclusion practices for
any person diagnosed with COVID-19 or symptoms of an acute respiratory infection.
The guidelines for a close contact in Queensland also provide information for those who have been in contact with a person who has tested positive to COVID-19.
The guidance recommends that people should stay at home and isolate while they have any symptoms of an acute respiratory infection.
Managing illness
Children with signs of illness or feeling unwell should stay at home.
If a child at a service is showing signs of illness, the service will contact their parent or carer to collect them.
If your child tests positive to COVID-19, you should follow these first steps if you have COVID-19.
Even if your child returns a negative COVID-19 test, they should still stay home until they are well.
Wellbeing and support for children
There are a range of resources available to help young children understand and cope with the impacts of COVID-19 and other emergencies.
These include
Queensland Health's Birdie Stories and the Australian Government's
Starting Blocks website, which parents may find helpful when having conversations about COVID-19.
Starting Blocks also provides activities to do at home with your children. A range of support material for the wellbeing of early childhood staff can also be found at Starting Blocks.
More information
For early childhood education and care COVID-19 related enquiries, please phone 1800 454 639 or email ECEC.COVID19@qed.qld.gov.au.
Other useful sites provide information and resources that are progressively updated, it is important to remain up to date with the latest information: