Frequently Asked Questions

We are open Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 6.30pm 52 weeks a year, closing only on Public Holidays and if mandated by the government due to serious conditions such as a code red fire threat.

• Well-resourced learning environments reflective of the children who attend the service.
• Healthy meals including breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and a late snack.
• We provide s26 Gold formula to you at no cost. If you choose to give your baby another brand of formula, please provide this to your child’s educators. We are happy to give your child breast milk in accordance with our breastfeeding policy.
• All nappies and wipes are provided. Meraki ELC has a preferred brand. If you would prefer another brand to the one provided, please send additional nappies in your child’s bag and let the educators in your child’s room know.
• **If your child requires nappy cream please provide this in its original packaging clearly labelled to leave at the centre. This will only be used by your child.
• We apply our chosen brand of sunscreen to children 20 minutes before going outside during daylight saving months. If your child has a specific brand of sunscreen that they prefer or require, please provide a clearly labelled bottle to our educators.
• Each child is provided with a new Meraki ELC hat upon enrolment. This is labelled and remains at the service. Hats are washed each week by our educating team.

• Meraki t-shirt
• Personalised labels
• Wet/dry bag

Yes, all meals are cooked on the premise. We ensure they meet Nutrition Australia standards. Vegetarian and special dietary needs can be catered for upon approval by the Centre Director.

Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is a payment provided to families to subsidise the cost of childcare for families. Meraki ELC have a management system that securely stores all of your details and automatically applies CCS to your account each week. You are only required to pay the ‘GAP’ fee.

What is the gap fee?

The gap fee is the dollar amount of the fees that is owing after the CCS is applied to your account. You will be issued with weekly statements via email that can keep you up to date with your account.

Who is eligible?

Some basic requirements must be satisfied for an individual to be eligible to receive Child Care Subsidy for a child. These include:

• The child/ren must 13 years old or younger and not attending high school (some exceptions do apply)
• All children must be up to date with their immunisations. You will be required to provide a copy of the statement to the service at least every six months.
• Residency requirements must be met
• The child/ren must be attending an approved Child Care Service. 

If your child is absent from childcare?

We pay this subsidy for up to 42 absences for each child, per financial year. You can use these absence days for any reason, including if the child is overseas. We don’t need evidence.

Absence days are the days you would normally get CCS. This includes public holidays. You can only use an absence day after your child has physically attended the service for the first time.

In special circumstances, you may get CCS for more than 42 absence days. If you require this, please speak to one of our managers and they can assist you to apply for this. You may need to provide supporting documentation from a medical professional.

For more information on the absences, please click here.  

No, unfortunately we are not able to offer discounts for multiple children attending the service as our centres operate at 100 percent capacity.

However, the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) now offers higher rates of CCS to families who have more than one child under the age of six. 

Please click here on the link to get more information about the higher CCS rates for families. There was an article release by the Australian Childcare Alliance outlining the benefits to families here.

Direct debits are process on Thursday each week.

• Yes, we collect a security deposit from each family upon enrolment. Each family is required to pay a $150 bond. This is refundable when your child leaves the service unless monies are owed, in which case they will be deducted from the bond
• To secure your child’s position at our centres, a $50 enrolment fee is required to be paid before orientation starts. Once paid, the families receive a Meraki ELC enrolment pack filled with a Meraki ELC t-shirt, a wet/dry bag and labels to use for personal items.

Like most employees, our educators are paid their regular wages on public holidays.  Therefore, full fees are still payable on public holidays for all permanent bookings.

We allow for four (4) weeks holiday discount per calendar year (Jan-Dec) at 50% your ‘normal weekly fee’. Your ‘normal weekly fee’ is your normal booking from Monday to Friday, not for example Thursday to Wednesday.

This is included in your annual absences allowance as mentioned above under CCS absence information.

We require two (2) weeks’ notice for the holiday rate to apply. Unused holidays do not accumulate or roll over into the next year. The holiday rate will not be applied if your account is more than two weeks in arrears.

Your child can be absent from the service for up to 42 days per financial year for any reason and you are still entitled to claim your CCS. You will not be required to provide supporting documentation for these absences.  If your child was to miss more than 42 days of care in a financial year your CCS will not be paid.  Special circumstances can be taken into consideration, please speak to one of our managers if you find yourself in this situation.

Here is some more information

Yes, holidays do count as absent days

If your child is moving from Kindergarten to school, their educator will write a transition and learning statement.

The statement includes:

• your child’s name, date of birth and photo
• their interests, skills and abilities
• strategies to teach your child
• your contact details and the details of any other professionals who are supporting your child

Your Kindergarten will submit the statement to your child’s school or prep teacher via an online portal. It helps the teacher get to know your child and plan the best way to teach them.

For more information on the transition from kinder to school, please click here.  

Meraki ELC educators who are actively working alongside children and are a part of the Educator to children ratio will have completed a minimum of a certificate III level qualification.

All Educators prior to commencement of employment at Meraki ELC are required to provide a current police check, employee working with children check, first aid certification, CPR certificate, anaphylaxis and asthma training. They also provide a copy of their child safety course certification. These always remain up to date. Catering staff also ensure that their food handling qualifications are always up to date. Our cleaners mostly work outside our operating hours but are also require their WWC Check.

We believe professional development is a necessary process for educators to engage as a part of their continued development and to always strive to exceed the National Quality Standards. It aims to reflect current and projected needs of both Meraki ELC service as a whole and the individual team members, providing them with support for career development and adapting to change within the sector.

Community Outing Program

Meraki ELC is insured for all of the children in the service to participate in our ‘Community Outings Program’. Opportunities are provided for your child to engage and explore in their local community. Outings can include visiting the local gardens or parks to collect materials and resources for art projects, walk to the local schools, local milk bar or supermarket to purchase items for a cooking experience upon their return.

These excursions will be spontaneous and may occur at any time during 9am and 3pm Monday to Friday, weather permitting. We will also continue to share our learning activities via photos and videos on our online platforms so you can follow all our adventures.

Bush Kinder

Is an outdoor excursion that provides greater learning opportunities for our children enrolled in our Kindergarten curriculum.

We believe the introduction of ‘Bush Kinder’ will provide your child the opportunity to visit the local parks / gardens to collect materials and resources for art projects, walk to the local schools to participate in educational programs such as PMP or theatrical demonstrations. 

Yes, all meals are cooked on the premise. We ensure they meet Nutrition Australia standards. Vegetarian and special dietary needs can be catered for upon approval by the Centre Director.

Please do not bring your child in if they are unwell; they are incredibly precious and when they are unwell and the best place for them is in the comfort of their own home. Also, bringing an unwell child into the service is putting all children and team members at risk of becoming ill too. 

We follow the minimum exclusion period as advised in the Australian Governments National Health and Medical Research Councils publication “Staying Healthy in Childcare”, if you would like more information, please click here.

As a requirement of the Victorian Government, if your child tests positive to Covid-19, they must isolate for 7 days and notify their close contacts to be alert for symptoms. If your child test positive to Covid-19, please let our management team know as soon as possible. This can be done vis email or phone.