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Australia not only faces a severe skills shortage of day-care workers, the industry is now fraught with quality and security issues affecting the children of families facing both financial and lifestyle stress.

opinion
opinion
Ross TaylorCommentsPremium
opinion
Live-in nannies could revolutionise Aussie childcare woes

Australia not only faces a severe skills shortage of day-care workers, the industry is now fraught with quality and security issues affecting the children of families facing both financial and lifestyle stress.

Ross Taylor

WA Secondary School Executives Association president Melissa Gillett said it was worrying that more than half of school principals had reported being physically assaulted in the past year.

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
EducationCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Attacks on WA school principals soar to record high

Nearly 60 per cent of WA school leaders have reported being shoved, punched, bitten or kicked in the past year, prompting warnings of a ‘mass exodus’ of experienced principals and deputies.

Bethany Hiatt

Jack and Alex Nicol, William and Maxim Hewitt, and Christopher and Leo Chan.

HealthCommentsPremiumTwins ‘baby boom’ marks multiple birth awareness week

Midwives at a Subiaco hospital are seeing double after the births of eight sets of twins in the space of just one week.

Bethany Hiatt

WA’s children are increasingly vulnerable to poverty, homelessness and being kicked out of school, the State’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has warned.

WA NEWSCommentsPremium‘Alarming’ figures expose child poverty, homelessness in WA

WA’s children are increasingly vulnerable to poverty, homelessness and being kicked out of school, the State’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has warned.

Bethany Hiatt

Genius Hamilton Hill

WA NewsPremiumWA childcares go into administration after mass resignations

Genius Childcare Centres has appointed voluntary administrators to its businesses across Australia, including three in WA, after dozens of staff quit over unpaid wages.

Rachel Fenner

Riley Hughes, who died from whooping cough in 2015

opinion
opinion
EditorialCommentsPremium
opinion
Riley’s short life had a profound impact

A decade on, what hurts the most is the simplicity of how Riley’s life could have been saved and how many Australians are blind to the benefits of vaccines. 

Christopher Dore

Christopher Dore

Genius Childcare Centre in Hamilton Hill.

Workplace mattersCommentsPremiumStaff say WA childcares won’t reopen after mass resignation

Dozens of staff at WA’s Genius Childcare Centres have resigned after months of issues around pay, superannuation and penalties. 

Rachel Fenner

Catherine and Greg Hughes lost their baby son Riley Hughes ten years ago this week. He died from whooping cough and they have spent the last decade raising awareness on this issue.

WA NewsCommentsPremiumFamily’s vaccine fight in baby Riley’s memory

It has been 10 years since Catherine and Greg Hughes last held their baby boy Riley, as he succumbed to whooping cough just 32 days after he was born. 

Rhianna Mitchell

Gaming addiction is particularly prevalent in children with ADHD, autism, and anxiety disorders.

opinion
opinion
Andrew LeechCommentsPremium
opinion
Gaming addiction is a crisis

Gaming addiction is particularly prevalent in children with ADHD, autism, and anxiety disorders.

Andrew Leech

‘I am struggling. Not with the separation or the emotional shift or even the snacks for the lunch boxes. It’s the WhatsApp,’ writes Edwina Bartholomew.

opinion
opinion
Edwina Bartholomew CommentsPremium
opinion
Why I’m hitting mute on my kid’s school WhatsApp groups

I want to be engaged, get to know other parents and stay in touch with the teacher but it’s all slightly overwhelming. Is anyone else on the same page?

Edwina Bartholomew

Leinster Community Daycare centre director Christine Bell, pictured right, recruited FIFO educator Tracey Mouna, left, last month.

EducationCommentsPremiumWA’s childcare crisis pushes centres to turn to FIFO

Regional and rural childcare centres are offering fly-in fly-out positions, accommodation and relocation incentives to attract staff amid a critical worker shortage which is forcing some centres to shut down.

Rhianna Mitchell

Comedian Ben Elton has called on adults to do more to limit the pernicious effects of social media on children.

SOCIAL MEDIACommentsPremiumComic urges adults to protect kids from clutches of big tech

Ben Elton, who begins a series of stand-up shows at the Astor Theatre this week, said big-tech companies had been allowed to operate without appropriate checks and balances and were destroying childhood.

Alison Wakeham

Australia’s leading after-school care service was slapped with a series of fines after it was revealed several children had managed to leave the premises without anyone noticing. 

Courts & JusticePremiumAfter-school club fined $220k for kids leaving premises

Australia’s leading after-school care service was slapped with a series of fines after it was revealed several children had managed to leave the premises without anyone noticing. 

Harriet Flinn

Isobel McNab, 8, has won the Scout of the Year award for her work with Dolly's Dream in her school.

Speaking upPremiumDonnybrook primary school student named Scout of the Year

An eight-year-old girl from Donnybrook has been recognised for her dedication to ending bullying in her school community.

Sofia Fimognari

Eliza Zaknich 6, Dr Amelia Harray and Samuel Zaknich, 8, eating breakfast.

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
HealthCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Skipping breakfast linked to poor NAPLAN results

Kids who skip breakfast are more likely to have poorer NAPLAN results than their breakfast-loving counterparts, new research has found. 

Hannah Cross

Children exposed to their mother’s cannabis use during pregnancy and after birth are three times more likely to develop behavioural problems.

HEALTH PremiumMaternal cannabis use triples risk of wild behaviour in kids

Children exposed to their mother’s cannabis use during pregnancy and after birth are three times more likely to develop behavioural problems, new Curtin University research has revealed. 

Claire Sadler

In Australia, one in three children and adolescents are predicted to be obese by 2050 according to new research, with a significant increase expected in the next five years.

HEALTHCommentsPremiumUrgent action needed to turn tide on child obesity rates

Half of Australian children and teenagers will be obese or overweight by 2050, an alarming study reveals.

Artemisia Blythe

The former political advisor shared the news on Sunday evening.

PoliticsCommentsBrittany Higgins announces baby news in adorable post

The former political advisor shared the news on Sunday evening.

Ella Loneragan

A sneak peek of LEGO’s highly awaited Bluey series has just been released months before the range is set to hit shelves.

😍😍😍CommentsSEE THE PICS: First look at Bluey in LEGO form

A sneak peek of LEGO’s highly awaited Bluey series has just been released months before the range is set to hit shelves.

Zach Margolius

Little attention has been paid to what AI programs - the ones that can create images with a simple text prompt - might be showing particularly our young kids, writes Kate Emery.

opinion
opinion
KATE EMERY CommentsPremium
opinion
AI can be the bad influence your parents warned you about

Every parent knows how important your kid’s choice of friends can be.

Kate Emery

Kate Emery

Parents overwhelmed by messages telling them they are doing ‘screentime’ wrong should ditch the term and look at what their kids are doing on their screens

WA NewsCommentsPremiumParents told to ditch ‘unhelpfully vague’ screentime label

Parents overwhelmed by messages telling them they are doing ‘screentime’ wrong should ditch the term and look at what their kids are doing on their screens - not how long they are on them.

Kate Emery

Dr Jamie Tan and Hope Castillo.

HealthCommentsPremiumConcerning rates of iron deficiency in WA toddlers

Researchers are examining the potential link between low iron levels and conditions such as ADHD after data from 10,000 babies born at Joondalup Hospital has revealed concerning iron deficiencies.

Liam Murphy

Cost-of-living pressures are forcing more WA families to send their children to school without lunch.

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
ChildrenCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Families forced to send kids to school without lunch

Cost of living pressures are forcing more WA families to send their children to school without lunch, with one charity reporting a 77 per cent rise in the number of kids asking for food.

Dylan Caporn

Vance and his family have had to change their outdoors lifestyle since he was left with tetraplegia, making it hard to access public venues such as the beach.

Starlight Super SwimPremiumBusselton family swimming for Starlight to help sick kids

Vance was four and a half years-old when a garden statue fell on him in a friend’s backyard, leaving him with tetraplegia. Now six years old, his family are fundraising for other sick kids.

Sofia Fimognari