NSW is introducing new rules to strengthen child safety in early childhood education and care settings. These changes apply to all services, including family day care, long day care and outside school hours care. Here’s what families need to know.

What’s changing

To better protect children’s privacy and safety, the NSW Government now requires all early childhood educators and anyone working directly with children to follow stricter rules around phones and other devices. These changes come from a new Ministerial Direction that all services must follow.

Key points for parents

Educators can’t have personal phones or devices on them while working with children.

This includes any device that can take photos, record video or store images. If a staff member needs their personal device for a specific reason, the provider must give written approval first.

Only service-approved devices can be used for photos or videos of children.

Any images or recordings taken for learning, documentation or safety purposes must be done using devices supplied or authorised by the service.

Services must closely monitor and record any devices they supply or approve.

Approved providers and nominated supervisors are now required to track, review and securely store records of all device authorisations.

Policies will be updated.

Services are required to review and update their policies to reflect the new rules. All staff must understand and follow these procedures to keep children safe.

Why these changes matter

The reforms are designed to protect children’s privacy, limit risks around image-sharing and ensure that all photos or videos taken in a service are securely managed and stored.

What this means for families

• You may notice staff leaving personal devices in designated storage areas or staff rooms
• Services might communicate more about how and when children’s photos are taken
• Updated policies will be shared with families once finalised
• You can expect even stronger safeguards around your child’s privacy.

These changes are all about keeping children safer and ensuring their privacy is protected at all times. Our service will be updating our processes and communicating clearly with families as we implement the new requirements. If you have any questions or would like to chat about what this means day to day, we’re always here to help.