Your frequently asked questions answered

Although you can complete the self-assessment quizzes as many times as you like, the Healthy Steps in ECEC team recommend that selected service staff (for example, Nominated Supervisor, Educational Leader, Family Day Care Educator or Family Day Care Provider/Coordinator) complete the quizzes at least every quarter (3 months). This will help to ensure that you have enough time to create your action plan based on feedback from the self-assessments, and to implement the steps developed within the action plan.

Similar to the self-assessment quizzes, you can develop an action plan for the healthy eating, infant feeding and physical activity practices that you wish to focus on as many times as you like. In order to give your service enough time to implement and reach the goals within your action plans, the Healthy Steps in ECEC team recommend that selected service staff (for example, Nominated Supervisor, Educational Leader, Family Day Care Educator or Family Day Care Provider/Coordinator) develop action plans at least every quarter (3 months).

The resources within the Healthy Steps in ECEC library are available for your service to use at any stage, and can be accessed as many times as you like. The resources have been categorised to allow services to easily find specific resources that will help you to meet your goals.

The healthy eating, infant feeding and physical activity practices targeted within the Healthy Steps in ECEC program compliment the Munch & Move practices. The practices within Healthy Steps ECEC are informed by the best available evidence on creating healthy environments in ECEC services. This means that some of the Healthy Steps in ECEC practices contain additional components compared to Munch & Move practices.

By supporting ECEC services to meet the healthy eating, infant feeding and physical activity policies and practices, Healthy Steps in ECEC also helps services to align with the requirements of the NQS and EYLF.

Healthy Steps in ECEC incorporates similar terms to those used by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) within the NQS assessment and ratingto provide feedback on how your service is going with achieving the healthy eating, infant feeding and physical activity practices. However it is important to note that the feedback you receive from the self-assessment quizzes (e.g. working towards or meeting) may not directly reflect or align with your service’s NQS assessment and rating for the seven quality areas or overall rating, as there are differences in the assessment criteria between the NQS and Healthy Steps in ECEC.