Long day care services provide full or part time care and education for children from birth to school age, including before and after school care, depending on the individual service.
Services generally operate for at least 10 hours a day from Monday to Friday for a minimum of 48 weeks each year.
Children are usually grouped together according to their age and developmental stage.
Like all centre-based care services, long day care services are required to hold a service approval or licence and must comply with legislative standards.
Learning programs are designed and provided by staff who are required to hold relevant qualifications specified by legislation. Parents should speak to the individual service regarding the qualifications held by staff members. Some long day care services offer an approved kindergarten program delivered by an early childhood teacher for kindy-age children attending their service.
The majority of long day care services are Australian Government approved for Child Care Benefit, which means families using the service may be eligible for Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate. For more information on these benefits, visit the Family Assistance Office website 
.
As of 1 January 2012, the National Quality Framework (NQF) applies to long day care, family day care, outside school hours, pre-Prep and kindergarten services. A small number of services continue to be regulated under the Child Care Act 2002. The NQF introduces a new quality rating system for services and new national standards that over time will include more educators to educate and care for children and enhanced educator qualification requirements. Visit the National Quality Framework page for more information.
Find a long day care service provider
Getting started
Settling into an early childhood education and care service is a big event in a child's and parent's life. The Getting Started suite of tip sheets has some helpful information and tips to help you both prepare for your child's first day.
This page was last reviewed on 05 May 2011
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) 2010.
