Latest News
Online TLDS training webinars
Now available for enrolment
In support of the Online Transition Learning and Development Statement (Online TLDS) we are offering webinars through late August into September.
The courses offered:
You can view the schedule and book a webinar session on our training page.
Technology Survey 2024
Complete this 5 minute survey to have your say and give your service the chance to win an iPad!
https://surveys.kindergarten.vic.gov.au/
The Kindergarten IT Program would like to find out how we can improve the program for our service members. There are 8 questions covering technology needs, connectivity, service improvements and customer satisfaction.
Your submission will enter your service in the prize draw for first prize, a 10th Generation 64GB WiFi iPad.
The survey will run from 5th of August to 30th of August 2024.
This survey is intended for employees and committee members of Victorian Early Childhood Education and Care services that make use of the Kindergarten IT Program.
Survey Policy and prize draw Terms & Conditions.
New Tip – Add the Kindergarten Tick to your email signature
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
Early Childhood Update – February 2023
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)
Tip – End of the year wrap-up
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
Early Childhood Update
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)
New Tip – Password protect PDFs exported from Word
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
New Tip – Password protect Office documents
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
New Tip – How to protect worksheet cells in Excel
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
New Tips: Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet
Each year, many kindergarten staff need to transfer the contact details of enrolled families from an Excel spreadsheet into Outlook. Within Outlook, staff often also want the family emails grouped into Contact Groups for each session or cohort of enrolments.
These two tips provide two methods of setting up the Contact Groups in Outlook:
Tip – Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet (quick copy/paste method)
Tip – Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet (advanced import method)
Tip – Update your email name in Outlook
Make sure you are making a professional impression by setting up your email username correctly. This tip will explain how. As well as assisting with recognisability, this process also helps to ensure your mail isn’t mistaken for spam.
Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Update your email name in Outlook
Tip – Website content creation and gathering
This tip covers how to compose your content for web and how to gather the media resources for your new WordPress website.
You can view the tip here: Tip – Website content creation and gathering
This guide is a sequel to https://kindergarten.vic.gov.au/tips/planning-your-website/
Information technology support is provided by the State Library Victoria, Community IT Support Team
Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm
| Phone: 03 8664 7001 | Toll Free: 1800 629 835 |
| General Enquiries Email: info@kindergarten.vic.gov.au | Technical Support Email: support@kindergarten.vic.gov.au |
Welcome to the
Kindergarten IT Program
Latest News
New Tip – Password protect PDFs exported from Word
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
New Tip – Password protect Office documents
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
New Tip – How to protect worksheet cells in Excel
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
New Tips: Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet
Each year, many kindergarten staff need to transfer the contact details of enrolled families from an Excel spreadsheet into Outlook. Within Outlook, staff often also want the family emails grouped into Contact Groups for each session or cohort of enrolments.
These two tips provide two methods of setting up the Contact Groups in Outlook:
Tip – Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet (quick copy/paste method)
Tip – Create Outlook Contact Groups from an Excel spreadsheet (advanced import method)
Tip – Update your email name in Outlook
Make sure you are making a professional impression by setting up your email username correctly. This tip will explain how. As well as assisting with recognisability, this process also helps to ensure your mail isn’t mistaken for spam.
Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Update your email name in Outlook
Tip – Website content creation and gathering
This tip covers how to compose your content for web and how to gather the media resources for your new WordPress website.
You can view the tip here: Tip – Website content creation and gathering
This guide is a sequel to https://kindergarten.vic.gov.au/tips/planning-your-website/
Tip – WordPress create logos and icons
If you are using a WordPress theme, widget or block pattern with place-holder logos you might need make custom or unique icons to replace them. This technique will work for making larger logos too.
Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – WordPress create logos and icons.
Tip – Reordering columns and combining columns in Excel
Staff often need to maintain a spreadsheet of families and enrolments. Common tasks like adjusting or reorganizing such lists can be repetitive. Here are the first of some time-saving methods suggested from our Excel course.
Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Tip – Reordering columns and combining columns in Excel.
New WordPress Tip: Build a basic WordPress contact form
Put your WordPress website to work collecting feedback, a wait list for enrolments or survey your families. This tip will show you how to create simple contact forms for your WordPress site.
Browse to it on our Tips page or from this direct link: Build a basic WordPress contact form.
New WordPress Tips: Manual backup & restore of your website
If you are making changes to your WordPress site you will often hear the advice to take a manual backup. But how do you do one?
Learn how to perform this backup: Tip – Making a WordPress file & database backup
Learn how to restore from this backup: Tip – Restoring from a WordPress file & database backup
If you would like to learn more about WordPress, you can book into our upcoming training sessions running during the third week of November.
Training webinars for the final term 2022
Now available for enrolment
We are offering webinars of our courses on basic troubleshooting, website development, poster design and Excel. We are also offering some additional Online TLDS sessions for those who missed last term’s webinars.
The courses offered:
WordPress Website Development – 101
Beginners Excel Spreadsheets – 401
You can view the schedule and book a webinar session on our training page.
Cyber Security Awareness Month 2022
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month 2022. Each week this month the Australian Cyber Security Centre has resources, posters, quizzes and tools around the themes “Have you been hacked?”, “Is your email secure?”, “How do you act now to stay secure?” and “It’s time to take action!”.
Highlights from week three include a Small Business Cyber Security Guide useful to directors and committees, and Cyber Security for kids resources that educators can provide to families to help them stay secure.
Cyber Security Awareness Month 2022 | Cyber.gov.au
Information technology support is provided by the State Library Victoria, Community IT Support Team
Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm
Phone: 03 8664 7001
Toll Free: 1800 629 835
General Enquiries Email: info@kindergarten.vic.gov.au
Technical Support Email: support@kindergarten.vic.gov.au