Family Day Care Educators may care for children 0-12 years overnight. Our current policy requires checks every 10 minute for sleeping children until the educator retires to bed. One of our educators has queried the validity of this for children over five. What physical checking regimes would Red Nose recommend as best practice for overnight care?

Sleep & Rest Policy (which includes supervision & checking) comes under the banner of ACECQA which is directly related to Early childhood Education or Pre-school.

As far as overnight care in FDC is concerned the following information is available.

From ACECQA
Considerations for overnight or extended care
• Services providing overnight or extended care may need to develop sleep and rest policies and procedures specific to this type of care (or incorporate overnight care into overarching policies and procedures), as overnight practices will differ to those used during the day.
• Policies and procedures should consider: the physical safety of the child’s sleeping environment; plans for the supervision of the child while they are sleeping, including how they will be monitored during the night; access of the child to other parts of the house during the night; access of other people to the child’s sleeping environment; and night time emergency evacuation procedures/lockdown (or just emergency) (e.g. in the case of a fire, intruder etc).

Considerations for family day care
• A family day care service should have an agreed and documented practice for the supervision of sleeping children, tailored to the unique layout and safety considerations of each family day care residence or venue, as well as the ages and developmental stages of the children in care. For example, the service should ensure that children are not placed in the educator’s bedroom if they would have access to medication or other dangerous items
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-08/SleepRestForChildrenPolicyGuidelines.pdf

Services providing overnight care may need to develop sleep and rest policies and procedures specific to this type of care (or incorporate overnight care into overarching policies and procedures), as overnight practices will differ to those used during the day. Policies and procedures should consider: the physical safety of the child’s sleeping environment; plans for the supervision of the child while they are sleeping, including how they will be monitored during the night; access of the child to other parts of the house during the night; access of other people to the child’s sleeping environment and night time emergency evacuation plans (e.g. in the case of a fire, intruder etc).
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/supporting-materials/infosheet/safe-sleep-and-rest-practices

From NSW DET
Considerations for overnight or extended care
• Services providing overnight or extended care will need to develop sleep and rest policies and procedures specific to this type of care (or incorporate overnight care into overarching policies and procedures), as overnight practices will differ to those used during the day.
• Policies and procedures should consider: the risks and physical safety of the child’s sleeping environment; plans for the supervision of the child while they are sleeping, including how they will be monitored during the night; access the child may have to other parts of the house during the night; access other people may have to the child’s sleeping environment; and night time emergency evacuation procedures/lockdown (e.g. in the case of a fire, intruder, etc).
https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/early-childhood-education/operating-an-early-childhood-education-service/media/documents/policy-and-procedure-guidance/sleep-and-rest-for-children-policy-guidelines-for-ecec-services.pdf