The Children’s Facilities Capital Program (CFCP) supports the provision of high quality early years programs for children and their families. In April 2018, the Victorian Government opened applications for the 2018-19 CFCP Minor Grants round to fund small infrastructure upgrades and access to new information technology infrastructure (up to $1500) for licensed early years services delivering a Victorian Government funded kindergarten program.
We are pleased to announce that Glen Education was successful in obtaining a Minor IT grant for each of our services (nine at the time of application), receiving a total of $13,500. These grants will enable Glen Education to purchase new and up to date iPads and accessories for all Glen Education kindergartens. Glen Education will then use the existing, older model iPads to commence trialling sign in/out application for staff, families, children and visitors and also for automating audit checklists and other various forms. Glen Education will contribute funds to allow its newest service – Glen Education Centre Road to also benefit from the project and to ensure equity across our services.
In mid-2017, Glen Education made the decision to make a significant investment in IT infra-structure to support operations and increase efficiency. In short, we decided to drag Glen Education out of the IT dark ages and into the 21st century!! Much of the work carried out at Glen Education is paper-based, and the ability to communicate across the organisation, protect our information, and work remotely is extremely limited. This has been a cause of frustration to both administration and educators, and impacts on productivity.
The investment in our IT strategy from Glen Education, together with this grant will demonstrate the following benefits:
- Increased communication – this includes with our families within a particular service and more broadly across the 10 services Glen Education manages.
- Improved administrative efficiencies – this will enable all staff to have access to current information at the same time, in a central location.
- Privacy and confidentiality – this negates the need for us to keep paper based information (of a sensitive nature).
- Improved safety – cloud based information will enable staff to access information from any device should a service need to be evacuated and in the case of an emergency.
- Improved auditing capabilities – the ability to conduct a range of audits, daily safety checklists and the collection of family information in a central location.
- Sustainability – reduction of paper resources by generating online reports and tools.
The Children’s Facilities Capital Minor Grants Program is an excellent investment in the Early Years, enabling outstanding service provision.
