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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)

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

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/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

Online TLDS Training – 901

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.

Early childhood educators working on Transition Learning and Development Statements are required to adhere to their service’s privacy policies in the handling of personal information. This tip highlights where you can find support and resources.

Click here to view the tip.

Reported widely in the press this week, both state and national agencies are providing an evolving response to the Optus data breach. Optus customers and former customers who received notification from Optus can find guidance from the OAIC and IDCARE.

Although it is uncertain if all the data was publicly leaked, security specialists advise that those notified should assume their data was compromised and act accordingly.

An immediate response to any compromise to an online account is to change the account’s credentials. Optus customers can use My Account Login – Optus to update the password and username (the account’s log in email address).

In the case of the Optus breach, customer’s sign-up ID numbers (passport, driver’s licence, or Medicare ID) may have been included.

Drivers Licence. VicRoads can assist breach victims that hold a Victorian drivers license to ensure any unauthorized use of their licence number is flagged and to request a licence change https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian-drivers-licence-record-flag-optus-breach.

Medicare ID. Although victim’s Medicare details can’t be accessed with the ID, there are options to replace Medicare Cards to avoid future identity theft. What to do if you’ve been affected by the recent Optus data breach (servicesaustralia.gov.au).

Passport. It is not possible to travel under a victims passport credential but replacements can be requested. Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade have an info page regarding the breach. Optus Data Breach | Australian Passport Office (passports.gov.au)

Along with those high point value forms of ID, other personal data leaked included name, date of birth, email addresses, postal address, phone numbers. Victims should guard for scammers leveraging the leak to target them further with phishing attempts.

Optus has reaffirmed it will never send hyperlinks through email or SMS notifications, and are currently offering to assist victims with credit monitoring Equifax Protect Eligibility (optus.com.au).

Anyone who thinks they have been impacted by the breach should also report it to the ACSC here: https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/report. 

If you missed our recent training webinars you can now view a video recording of the presentation.

Please register to view the webinar

Duration: 1 hour, 10 min

The video covers the topics from the course:

1. Websites and resources
2. Privacy and information sharing
3. Accessing the Online TLDS
4. Updating Service Details
5. Creating a child’s profile
6. Educator, child & family sections
7. Collaboration options
8. Completing a child’s TLDS
9. Questions & Feedback