Sector Update 

Two children aged five and six found unsupervised during an excursion at Perth Zoo

October 2025

The Learning

Approved providers must ensure service staff provide adequate supervision of children at all times.  When attending an excursion, parents expect their children are being supervised and protected from harm, in the care of appropriately qualified staff as legislatively required.

To ensure adequate supervision of children, approved providers must ensure that staff understand and follow the service's policies and procedures, in addition to adhering to identified strategies in the excursion specific risk assessments to mitigate supervision risks.

Approved providers who purchase ‘off the shelf’ policies and procedures should customise them to meet the needs of their service, staff and families. These must also align with implemented risk assessments. It is essential approved providers ensure their policies and procedures are relevant and clear for their staff to understand and follow.

Policies and procedures 

Excursions policy guidelines are provided by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) to assist in the development of robust excursion policies.

• Monitor policy implementation - Approved providers must ensure that service staff have a clear understanding of the service's policies and are following the policies at all times. Approved providers should set up systems to monitor that the service staff are aware of, and following, the service's policies whilst on excursions. This guide breaks down six reasonable steps to ensure staff follow policies and procedures.

Risk assessments 

Approved providers must ensure that, when planning an excursion, service staff conduct a risk assessment taking into consideration current factors which may impact on the level of risk. For example, building works being conducted at a location or increased number of people attending on the day due to an event, educators' knowledge of the children attending.

• Templates - Risk assessment and management templates for excursions are available on the ACECQA website. 
• Examples - ECRU recently developed examples on how to complete an excursion risk assessment - risk assessment example template for excursions and regular outings.

Approved providers must ensure appropriate plans and strategies are in place and that staff adhere to risk assessments.

Qualifications 

It is essential that qualifications not recognised under the National Quality Framework (NQF) are assessed by ACECQA.  Further information can be accessed at NQF approved qualifications list. 

The Incident

A Department of Communities investigation found that in September 2024, two children aged five and six-years-old were unsupervised during an excursion to Perth Zoo. Floreat Park Primary School TheirCare attended the excursion in South Perth and whilst transitioning from one area to another, the two children became separated and lost from the group and educators who were approximately 200 metres away.

The two children were found by a member of the public who called the service
head office. Perth Zoo staff cared for the children for 10 minutes until the service staff realised the children were missing and engaged with staff at Perth Zoo to re-unite the lost children with the group.

The investigation also revealed that the qualified educator in attendance, as required for the excursion, did not hold the required qualification for their role.

The Penalty

The approved provider, TheirCare Pty Ltd, was ordered to pay a total of $28,000 including costs by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for contravening the Education and Care Services National Law (WA) Act 2012.  

SAT ordered TheirCare Pty Ltd to pay:

• $18,000 for contravening section 165(1) of the National Law, for an offence relating to the inadequate supervision of a child.
• $ 8,000 for contravening section 169(2) of National Law, for failing to meet the minimum requirements of the number of qualified staff working directly with children.

More information on the SAT order is available on the eCourts website.