National

Convicted $3.6 million day-care fraud granted bail

Melissa Jade Higgins outside the Downing Centre for her bail hearing.

A convicted family day-care fraud who stole $3.6 million from taxpayers through her Aussie Giggles day care centre has allegedly been receiving Centrelink study payments for Indigenous students despite not being Indigenous, the NSW District Court has heard.

How fake words can help kids learn to read

Back to basics phonics test to be rolled out in Australian schools.

A five-minute reading "check" for first-graders that includes made-up words like "beff" and "shup" that has dramatically improved early literacy rates in the UK is set to be adopted in Australia. 

The (very) big business of little kids

Big business is moving into childcare.

It's boomtime for corporate childcare in Australia, with for-profit operators and the big, listed landlords who own more than half the nation's centres boasting of strong growth, increasing rental income and multimillion dollar profits for their shareholders.