NCAC Policy Development Guide (2009) – NCAC – Putting Children First: A National Childcare Accreditation Council

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This page provides a guide to developing policies in early childhood settings, as well as some sample templates and resources to get you started.

The purpose of the NCAC Policy Development Guide is to:

1. Assist services to develop policies and procedures that relate to:
   • The needs of the individual service
   • The service’s Continuing Improvement Plans
   • Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA)
   • Federal and State Government legislative requirements
2. Assist services, families and children to form partnerships to continually improve care of children.

NCAC recognises and promotes the importance of individualised, service specific policies. Each service provides care and support to children and communities with differing needs, therefore, one service’s policies and procedures will be different to another’s.

The NCAC Policy Development Guide will help services to develop, source and write policies, assist in establishing a collaborative approach with stakeholders, and help clarify the importance of reviewing policies on a regular basis.

Page contents:

• Introduction to the NCAC Policy Development Guide
• The Importance of Policies
• Policy Development Definitions
• Using Reflective Questions in Policy Development and Review
• Frequently Asked Questions about Policy Development
• NCAC Policy Templates
• Required Policies
• Additional Resources
• Support and Assistance

Services may wish to use the following Developing a Policy Checklist and sample policy template to assist them to develop and evaluate their own policies.

• Developing a Policy Checklist (PDF 140kb – New Window)
• NCAC Policy Development Guide – sample policy template (PDF 142kb – New Window)
• NCAC Smoke Free Environments for Children Position Statement (October 2006)