Sonas Early Learning & Care (“Sonas”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of children, families, employees, and visitors to our centres and website. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), the Education and Care Services National Law (Western Australia) Act 2012, and the Education and Care Services National Regulations.
This policy applies to information we collect through our website at sonaschildcare.com.au and sonaschildcare.com, our enrolment and contact forms, our centres in Perth, and any communications between you and us.
1. What information we collect
The personal information we collect depends on your relationship with us and the purpose of collection. We may collect:
- Family contact information — your name, address, email, phone number, and emergency contacts.
- Information about your child(ren) — full name, date of birth, gender, languages spoken at home, cultural background, dietary requirements, sleep routines, photographs, and details required to provide care.
- Health and medical information — immunisation history, allergies, medical conditions, medications, doctor and emergency-services contacts, and any care or action plans (e.g. asthma, anaphylaxis).
- Government identifiers — Customer Reference Numbers (CRNs) for you and your child, used to administer the Australian Government’s Child Care Subsidy through Services Australia.
- Financial and billing information — direct debit details, payment history, and Child Care Subsidy entitlement information.
- Court orders, parenting orders or family-court documents — where these affect a child’s care, custody, or who is permitted to collect them.
- Educational and developmental records — observations, learning portfolios, photographs, and progress information collected by educators in line with the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Framework.
- Employment information — for staff and applicants: identity, qualifications (including Working with Children Check / WWCC), employment history, references, tax and superannuation details.
- Website information — pages visited, IP address, browser type, device type, and aggregate usage statistics. See section 9 below.
2. Why we collect this information
We collect personal information so we can:
- Provide safe, high-quality education and care to your child;
- Manage enrolment, attendance, billing, and Child Care Subsidy claims;
- Comply with our legal obligations under the National Law and Regulations, including health, safety, and incident reporting;
- Communicate with you about your child, our centres, and matters affecting their care;
- Respond to enquiries submitted through our website forms, including tour bookings and enrolment enquiries;
- Recruit, employ, and manage our staff and educators; and
- Improve our website and services.
Where possible, you may interact with us anonymously or use a pseudonym (e.g. when browsing our website or making a general phone enquiry). For enrolment, attendance, subsidy claims, and other regulated activities, identification is required by law and we cannot provide care without it.
3. How we collect information
We collect personal information directly from you wherever practicable — through enrolment forms, the Xplor parent app, in-centre conversations, our website forms, phone calls, and emails. In some cases we may collect information from third parties, including Services Australia (for Child Care Subsidy), other education or health professionals (with your consent or where authorised by law), or family-court documents.
4. Who we may share information with
We do not sell personal information. We share personal information only as needed to provide care, comply with the law, or with your consent. Recipients may include:
- Services Australia — to administer the Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy.
- The Australian Government Department of Education — for Child Care Subsidy compliance.
- The WA Department of Communities — the regulatory authority for childcare services in Western Australia, including for assessment, compliance, and incident notifications.
- The Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) — the national authority overseeing the National Quality Framework.
- Health professionals and emergency services — including ambulance, hospital staff, and your child’s nominated medical professionals if your child requires medical care.
- Mandatory reporting recipients — under WA law, we are required to report suspected child abuse, neglect, or harm to the appropriate authorities. We will do so without notice or consent where the law requires.
- Service providers and contractors who help us run our business — including our childcare management software (e.g. Xplor), payment processors, IT and email providers, and audit / professional advisors. These parties are contractually required to handle personal information in line with this policy and the Privacy Act.
- Schools — where your child is in our Before & After School Care or Vacation Care, we exchange information with their school as needed for safe pickup, attendance, and continuity of care.
5. Information about children
Children’s information receives heightened protection under the Privacy Act and the National Regulations. We collect information about a child only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian (except where mandatory reporting or other legal obligations apply). Educators collect observational and developmental records as part of programming and documentation required by the National Quality Standard. These records are kept securely and shared only with the child’s family, our regulators where required, and the child’s educators.
6. Photographs, video, and social media
We seek explicit, written consent at enrolment before photographing or videoing your child for centre programming, parent communications (e.g. the Xplor app), or marketing materials including our website and social media. You may withdraw or vary your consent at any time by contacting your centre’s director or emailing us. We do not name children in public-facing media without specific written consent for that purpose.
7. Sensitive information
Some of the information we collect — including health, immunisation, religious, cultural background, and any criminal-history check (for staff) information — is “sensitive information” under the Privacy Act. We collect sensitive information only where it is reasonably necessary for our childcare functions and where you have consented, or where the law requires or authorises its collection.
8. Storage, security, and retention
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure. Steps include physical security at our centres, role-based access to digital records, password protection, encryption in transit, regular software updates, staff training, and contractual obligations on third-party processors.
We retain enrolment and care records for the periods required under the National Regulations (generally until the child is 25 years old, or longer where law requires) and other applicable laws, including taxation, employment, and Services Australia record-keeping rules. After a record is no longer required to be retained, we destroy it or de-identify it.
9. Our website and the CCS calculator
Our website uses standard server logs and may use cookies and similar technologies to help the site function and to understand how visitors use it. Information collected through the website is generally aggregated and does not identify you personally. You can disable cookies in your browser; some site functions may not work without them.
The Child Care Subsidy calculator on this website is an estimation tool only. It does not transmit the figures you enter to Sonas, Services Australia, or any third party. The calculator is provided for general guidance and does not represent a determination of your subsidy entitlement.
10. Cross-border disclosure
Some of our service providers (for example, cloud hosting and email infrastructure) may store data on servers located outside Australia. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure those providers handle personal information in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.
11. Direct marketing
We may send you communications about our centres, programs, events, and parent resources. You can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us. We do not sell or rent your contact details to other organisations for marketing.
12. Access and correction
You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you or your child, and to ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, or misleading. Contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time, normally 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before releasing information. There is no fee to request access; we may charge a reasonable fee for the cost of providing copies.
13. Complaints
If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first using the details below — we take privacy concerns seriously and will work with you to resolve the issue. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or by phone on 1300 363 992.
14. Updates to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version is always available at sonaschildcare.com.au/privacy. Material changes will be communicated to enrolled families in advance through our usual parent communication channels.
15. Contact us about privacy
If you have questions about this policy, want to access or correct your information, or wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact:
Privacy Officer
Sonas Early Learning & Care
Email: bizhub@sonaschildcare.com.au
Or contact your centre directly using the details on each centre page.