Privacy Policy

About this policy

First Five Early Learning Pty Ltd (“First Five”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a family owned group of early learning centres at Bundall and Victoria Point in Queensland and at Cranbourne and Reservoir in Victoria.

Families trust us with their children, and with information about their children. We treat that information with the same care. Children’s safety, wellbeing and best interests come first in everything we do, including how we handle personal information.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we keep it safe, who we share it with, and how you can see it, correct it or make a complaint. We manage personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and we keep the records required of us under the Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations.

It applies to our four centres, our support office and our website, firstfive.com.au, as well as our landing pages, social media pages, online forms and family communication app.

The personal information we collect

What we collect depends on how you deal with us.

Families making an enquiry or booking a tour

• your name, email address, phone number and postcode
• your child’s name and age, the days of care you are looking for and your preferred start date
• the centre you are interested in and any questions you ask us
• whether you have registered for the Child Care Subsidy

Families enrolling a child

About your child:

• name, date of birth, gender, address and birth certificate
• language spoken at home, cultural background and religion
• emergency contacts and the people authorised to collect your child
• health needs, medical records, immunisation history statement, dietary requirements and your doctor’s contact details
• developmental records and summaries, and information from external agencies that support your child
• incident and medication records kept while your child is in our care
• permission forms, including your choices about photographs, video and work samples
• Child Care Subsidy information, including your Centrelink Customer Reference Number
• custody arrangements, parenting orders or parenting plans that affect your child’s care

About parents and guardians:

• full names, address, mobile and work phone numbers and email address
• bank account or credit card details for paying fees
• Centrelink Customer Reference Number
• custody arrangements or parenting agreements

Sensitive information

Some of what we collect is sensitive information under the Privacy Act, such as health information, religion, and cultural or ethnic background. We collect it only with your consent or where the law requires or allows it, and we use it only to care for your child safely and to meet our legal obligations. Day-to-day health information, such as a food allergy, is shared only with the educators who need it to care for your child.

Job applicants, staff, students and volunteers

When you apply to work, study or volunteer with us, we collect information such as your contact details, résumé, qualifications, Working with Children Check, first aid and other certificates, referee details, and, if you join us, your tax, banking, superannuation, medical and emergency contact details. Employee records held by us as an employer are largely exempt from the Australian Privacy Principles, but we keep them confidential and available only to the people who make employment decisions.

Website visitors

When you visit our website or landing pages, we and our service providers may collect information such as your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit and how you arrived. We may use cookies and similar technologies to do this and to measure and improve our advertising. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, though some parts of the site may not work as intended.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information from you directly wherever we can. This includes when you:

• fill in an enquiry, contact or tour booking form on our website or landing pages
• book a centre tour through our online booking tool
• complete a lead form on Facebook or Instagram
• phone, email or visit one of our centres or our support office
• complete enrolment forms, surveys or other paperwork
• use our childcare management software or family communication app
• apply for a job with us

Sometimes we receive information from someone else, such as another parent or guardian, an authorised nominee, a doctor, a support agency, a government agency or a referee. If we receive personal information we did not ask for and could not have lawfully collected, we destroy or de-identify it.

If you do not give us the information we ask for, we may not be able to respond to your enquiry, enrol your child or provide care safely.

Why we collect and use personal information

We use personal information to:

• respond to enquiries and arrange centre tours
• assess and manage enrolments and waitlists
• provide safe, high-quality education and care, including meeting each child’s health, dietary and developmental needs
• keep you informed about your child, our programs and centre events
• administer the Child Care Subsidy and process fees and payments
• meet our obligations under the Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations, child protection laws and other laws
• recruit and manage our team
• run, measure and improve our website, services and advertising
• tell you about our centres, open days, kindergarten programs and enrolments

Direct marketing

We may use your contact details to tell you about our centres and services where you would reasonably expect to hear from us, or where you have agreed to. Every marketing email or message includes a simple way to unsubscribe, and you can ask us to stop at any time. We do not use children’s information for marketing, and we never sell personal information.

Photographs and video of children

Photographs, video and work samples are part of how we record and share your child’s learning. We take care with them.

We ask for your written permission before we photograph or video your child. The permission sets out what the images will be used for and where, if anywhere, they will be published.

Images and video of children are taken only on devices supplied or issued by our service. Educators do not carry personal phones, smartwatches or other recording devices while they are caring for children.

Images are stored securely, protected by passwords, accessed only by authorised people and never moved to personal devices.

You can withdraw your permission at any time. If you do, we remove and destroy the images we hold.

We ask families to do their part too. Please do not share photographs or videos of other children taken from our app, our Facebook pages or centre events, on social media or anywhere else.

CCTV

Our centres use CCTV. The footage is stored securely and can be viewed only by authorised people.

Who we share personal information with

We share information about a child only with the child’s parents or guardians, unless the law allows or requires otherwise. We may disclose personal information to:

• government agencies and regulators, including Services Australia for the Child Care Subsidy and the regulatory authority in your state
• child protection authorities where the law requires it, including the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety in Queensland and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in Victoria
• in Victoria, other organisations under the Child Information Sharing Scheme and the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme, where the law allows it
• medical and emergency services, where a child’s health or safety requires it
• authorised officers, such as a public health officer
• people you have authorised to receive information or to collect your child
• service providers who help us run our centres, such as childcare management and family communication software, payment providers, IT and website providers, online booking and customer management tools, and our marketing agency
• advertising platforms such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google, to deliver and measure our advertising
• professional advisers and insurers
• anyone else, with the written consent of the person the information is about

Information about other families

We never share one family’s information with another family. Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, we do not give one parent personal information about another parent, an emergency contact, an authorised nominee or another person named in a child’s enrolment record without that person’s written consent. Where a court order or parenting plan applies, we follow it, so please share any order with us and keep us up to date.

If our centres change hands

If one of our centres is transferred to a new approved provider, we will tell families in writing at least 7 days before the change takes effect, including how personal information will be managed afterwards. Records are transferred to the new provider with written consent from parents and guardians.

Disclosure overseas

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Australia. These include our online booking, customer management, website analytics and social media advertising tools, which may hold information in the United States and other countries. Where we disclose personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure it is handled in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.

How we protect personal information

We hold personal information in paper files at our centres and in electronic systems, including cloud-based software. We protect it with physical, technical and administrative safeguards, including:

• paper files kept in locked storage
• password-protected computers, with a unique login for each staff member
• access limited to the people who need it
• security software that is kept up to date
• regular backups
• staff who are trained in privacy and confidentiality and sign a confidentiality agreement when they join us

If you have online access to enrolment or program information, you will receive your own username and password. Please keep them to yourself.

We keep records for as long as the law requires, including the retention periods set by the Education and Care Services National Regulations, and we can tell you how long a particular record must be kept. When we no longer need personal information and are not required to keep it, we destroy or de-identify it.

We review our privacy practices every year. If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

Automated decisions

We do not use computer programs to make decisions about people that could significantly affect their rights or interests. If that changes, we will update this policy to explain the kinds of information used and the kinds of decisions made.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you or your child, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Contact us using the details below. We usually respond within 30 days, and we may need to confirm your identity first.

Parents and guardians can see the records of their own children, unless a court order prevents it. In some cases the law allows or requires us to refuse access, for example where it would affect another person’s privacy. If we refuse, we will tell you why in writing and how you can complain.

Making a privacy complaint

If you are concerned about how we have handled your personal information, or you believe there has been a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us using the details below. We will look into it and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992

Contact us

Jason and Mary-Anne Ball, Approved Provider
First Five Early Learning Pty Ltd
PO Box 589, Bulimba QLD 4171
Email: contact@firstfive.com.au
Phone: (07) 3902 0370

Changes to this policy

We review this policy every year, and sooner if the law changes. We will tell enrolled families about any change within 14 days. The current version is always on our website, and we can give you a copy free of charge.