14 Jan 2022

Responding to COVID in our centre community

The health and safety of our centre community remains our number one priority. All Lifelong Learning Centres owned and operated by Affinity Education Group across Australia continue to adhere to strict safety measures to protect the health and safety of our staff, children, families, and the wider community. 

We are proud to be providing high quality early education and care in a safe environment.  

Our dedicated COVID Response Team comprising of our Quality, Operation and Communication teams, continue to meet daily to monitor the latest directives from Federal and State authorities, and obtain feedback from our centre teams and families.

Tracey Ling, National COVID Response Team Lead, explained support is being provided to centres and family enquiries 24/7. 

“Our team is able to provide the most up to date information in response to all enquiries from our Centre Manager, educators and families,” said Tracey. 

“Whilst the situation is ever-changing and can vary significantly state-by-state, our extensive health and hygiene practices and COVIDSafe policies are allowing us to remain open for learning." 

Unless otherwise notified, our centres will remain open. Our proactive policies and procedures remain effective in ensuring our centres are safe, hygienic places for your children to learn and play. We are also welcome new families with the option of virtual tours or contactless tours.   


Responding to COVID in our centre community

Responding to government updates
We continue to review and update our COVID policies and procedures to ensure compliance with guidance issued by the Federal Government and State-based Departments of Health and Departments of Education for licenced child care providers. In addition, we are in regular communication with the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) to ensure our internal policies and procedures are up to date.   

Responding to COVID
In the event that a positive COVID case is identified within our community, our Risk Assessment and Management Plan will be implemented. Our team is available to provide immediate support and information to families and employees, along with all necessary State Government reporting and centre sanitisation measures.   

Keeping our centre community safe
To keep our community safe, please maintain any state-directed and practical steps to protect your family from COVID. If you are notified of contact with COVID as a result of activities outside of our centre community, please follow the current State guidelines. As these requirements are subject to change, we have provided links directly below to the most recent information available. We are also following state-based guidelines for early education and care providers as per the links below.   

State / Territory COVID Information  
Information for contacts of confirmed cases – general public  
Information for early education and care providers  
COVID Hotline  
  Queensland  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  134 268  
  New South Wales  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  137 788  
  ACT  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  02 6207 744  
  Western Australia  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  132 6843  
  Northern Territory  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  1800 490 484  
  Victoria  
  Isolation or testing requirements  
  Department of Education  
  1800 675 398   

 

Further support 
We are mindful of the impact COVID can have on general health and mental wellbeing. Affinity Education provides support for all employees and enrolled families through LifeWorks – a free, confidential counselling service available 24/7. If you could benefit from this please call 1300 361 008 and state you are an enrolled family at a centre owned and operated by Affinity Education Group. 

We hope 2022 will be an exciting year full of fun and learning for your child, and thank you for being part of our community.  

Want to join our early learning community? Click here to discover your closest Lifelong Learning Centre or call our Friendly Family Support consultants on 1800 CHILD CARE.