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Department of Education and Training has released the May 2023 edition of the Early Childhood Update e-newsletter.

This edition focuses on celebrating and supporting the sector with articles on coaching for returning educators, funding opportunities, a new Koorie Kids Shine video and the upcoming Education Week 2023.
Of particular importance to us in I.C.T. is the article for maintaining cyber security.

You can subscribe to receive the updates here: Early Childhood Update | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

We have been alerted to a scam targeting payroll and administration staff. This is how the scam happens:

After capturing the name of a legitimate staff member, the scammer sends an email in the staff member’s name to the workplace. Titled “New Banking Details” or similar, this email requests an update to the staff member’s banking details before the next payroll.

In the case we were alerted to, the ruse was discovered when the quick-thinking payroll officer opted to call and verify the request with the victim. Warning signs included the actual sending address was a gmail mailbox and the “To” field included both real and non-existent addresses that the scammer guessed at.

This was a form of ‘payment redirection scam’. If the scammer had been successful, the victim’s next wage payment would have been stolen.

Ensure your team is aware of this kind of targeted scam and devise your own verification practices. Consider a ‘staff authorised contact list’ which has staff phone and email. Then if you get any similar requests, you can more easily identify if it’s legitimate or not.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has a lot of great resources to assist you to Recognise and report scams | Cyber.gov.au.

Or head to our Tip – Where to start with cyber security literacy – Kindergarten IT Program.

As always, if you receive an email you’re ever unsure about, our trained staff are always happy to advise on the legitimacy of any you’d like us to check.

Now available for enrolment

We are offering webinars of our courses on basic troubleshooting, website development, poster design and Excel.

The courses offered:

Practical IT Skills – 602

WordPress Website Development – 101

Making Creative Posters – 903

Beginners Excel Spreadsheets – 401

You can view the schedule and book a webinar session on our training page.

Department of Education and Training has released the March 2023 edition of the Early Childhood Update e-newsletter.

Kim Little, Deputy Secretary of Early Childhood Education, highlights Cultural Diversity Week and consultation opportunities for the Best Start, Best Life reforms.  Articles also cover support and resources for CALD families; teacher and ESK funding and grants; as well as free interpreting services for funded services.

You can subscribe to receive the updates here: Early Childhood Update | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

Have you ever heard the expression Explain it to me like I am 5? It is a popular phrase because we often need guidance that is immediate and accessible, just like five years olds. Increasing your cyber security literacy doesn’t mean becoming an expert, it just means becoming familiar with the day-to-day patterns and knowing what the general precautions and risks are.

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Where to start with cyber security literacy

The Victorian Government has introduced the Kinder Tick logo to help families find funded and approved kindergarten programs. Funded services are encouraged to display the Kinder Tick on email signatures, websites, media and anywhere that will help families identify approved programs.

This tip explains how to add the email signature banner in Outlook.

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Add the Kindergarten Tick to your email signature

Department of Education and Training has released the February 2023 edition of the Early Childhood Update e-newsletter.

With a message from Kim Little, Deputy Secretary of Early Childhood Education, articles on the Victorian Educational Leaders Conference, National learning framework updates, programs for teachers and Free TAFE for early childhood training, bush kinders and information sharing resources.

You can subscribe to receive the updates here: Early Childhood Update | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

This tip covers some end of year considerations for staff organising files, managing outgoing staff mailboxes and accounting for changes to file sharing tools etc. 

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – End of the year wrap-up

Department of Education and Training has released the December 2022 edition of the Early Childhood Update.

With a message from Kim Little, Deputy Secretary of Early Childhood Education, articles on the final days to order Three-Year-Old Kinder Kits for 2023, the upcoming Victorian Educational Leaders Conference and other important updates regarding the early childhood sector.

You can subscribe to receive the updates here: Early Childhood Update | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

This guide demonstrates how to password protect a PDF created in Microsoft Word or Publisher.

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Password protect PDFs exported from Word

If your service shares a computer, network drive or cloud storage between staff, committee and volunteers, you might find it useful to restrict some Office documents from modification with a password or encrypt others for confidentiality. This tip will explain both how to encrypt a document and how to restrict modifying a document.

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Password protect Office documents

Excel documents are often ‘living’ documents that are intended to be viewed and updated collaboratively.  To avoid users introducing errors to your documents, Excel’s protection options can lock or hide cells or formulas.

Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – How to protect worksheet cells in Excel