Childcare rostering & staff scheduling software for Australian centres
Roster educators to ratio in every room, keep checks and qualifications current, and pay correctly — without enterprise complexity.
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Room-by-room educator scheduling
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Working with Children Check tracking
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Children's Services Award rates built in
Designed for the realities of childcare work
A childcare roster is a regulatory document. Every room has a ratio, every ratio has a qualification behind it, and being one educator short is not an inconvenience but a breach.
Educator-to-child ratios per room and age group
Working with Children Checks
Diploma, Certificate III and ECT qualifications
Casual cover at short notice
Split shifts across opening and closing
Children’s Services Award rates
Childcare scheduling that holds ratio in every room
Childcare staff scheduling is really ratio management with a timetable attached: the question is never how many educators are on, but how many are on in the nursery between 3 and 4pm.
Roster the room, not the centre
Qualifications and checks enforced before publishing
Build each room’s requirement against its age group and attendance pattern, so a gap shows up while the roster is still a draft rather than at 7am.
- Roster each room against its own ratio requirement
- Only educators with the right qualification offered a room
- Working with Children Checks enforced with expiry alerts
- Fill absences from a casual pool without ringing round
Early learning centre rostering
Early learning centres carry the same ratio obligation as long day care with a program on top, and the educational leader’s non-contact time has to come out of the roster rather than out of the floor.
Programming time rostered, not borrowed
Roster contact and non-contact time separately so programming and documentation are planned hours, and the room stays in ratio while they happen.
- Roster educational leader and programming time explicitly
- Keep every room in ratio during non-contact hours
- Track ECT, Diploma and Certificate III qualifications
- Template the week and adjust for enrolment changes
Common roles: early childhood teacher, room leader, diploma educator, certificate III educator. See the early learning job descriptions.
Ratios are the roster, not a check on it
National Quality Framework ratios vary by age group and by state, and they apply at every moment the room is occupied — not on average across the day.
That distinction is where centres come unstuck. A roster that averages correctly across a day can still be out of ratio for the forty minutes between one educator leaving and the next arriving, and that forty minutes is what an unannounced visit finds. Building the roster per room, per hour, is what makes the gap visible early enough to fill.
Requirement held per room and age group
Gaps visible before the roster is published
Qualified educator requirements enforced
Casual cover offered only to qualified staff
Ratios are set by regulation, not by us
Educator-to-child ratios and qualification requirements are set under the National Quality Framework and vary by state and territory. Always confirm the current requirement with ACECQA and your regulatory authority.
Time and attendance for educators
A centre that opens at 6:30am and closes at 6:30pm runs on split and staggered shifts, and both have to reach payroll correctly.
Attendance reconciled to the roster
Tablet kiosk clock-in at the centre
Educators clock in on a centre tablet or their own phone, and the hours actually worked reach payroll with the award applied.
- Kiosk clock-in on a centre tablet with photo verification
- Split and staggered shifts tracked accurately
- Break rules applied for long opening days
- Worked hours convert straight into payroll-ready timesheets
Childcare award compliance, made simpler
Penalty rates, overtime and break rules vary by day, time, employment type and shift length — and one week’s roster touches most of them.
Children's Services Award (MA000120) — pay rates by period
| Period | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours (Mon–Fri) | 100% | 125% |
| Saturday (shiftworkers) | 150% | 175% |
| Sunday | 200% | 225% |
| Public holiday | 250% | 275% |
Casual rates are set by the award directly, not by adding a loading to the permanent rate. Rates change each 1 July; the full breakdown by classification, junior age and allowance is in the children services award pay guide. Always verify against Fair Work.
Payroll-ready workforce data
Approved hours should reach the pay run without being re-keyed, penalties and all.
From the roster to the pay run without a spreadsheet in between
Award interpretation already applied
RosterElf connects childcare scheduling and time tracking to payroll, so approved hours flow cleanly to Xero or MYOB with penalties already applied.
- Fewer payroll errors from manual data entry
- Less time reconciling timesheets each fortnight
- Clear records for audits and compliance checks
- Faster pay runs, even through a busy period
Australian childcare centres using RosterElf report significant time savings on schedule creation. Based on customer feedback and ROI calculator data.
More than childcare scheduling software
Scheduling is one job of several. RosterElf puts communication, HR and time tracking in the same place, so a childcare team has one app rather than four.
Why childcare centres choose RosterElf
RosterElf is built for Australian workplaces, with Fair Work compliance, modern awards and local payroll integrations as the starting point rather than an add-on.
Save hours on scheduling
Less time building and re-fixing the roster every week.
Control labour costs
See live wage cost as you schedule — no guesswork until payday.
Australian compliance
Children's Services Award rates and penalties built in.
All employment types
Works for casual, part-time and full-time staff.
Easy to adopt
Intuitive for managers and staff, with minimal training.
Single or multi-site
Scales from one site to a group.
Relevant awards for childcare
Stay compliant with Australian Modern Award pay rates
“A lot of the childcare staff... the amount of support they've needed is how I judge how easy it is. The interface is logical... it's been designed with user testing and feedback.”
Oliver Wood · Founder, Bushkids Childcare
Childcare centre streamlined staff management
Read the Bush Kids Childcare storyCalculate your childcare scheduling savings
See how much time and money your business could save with RosterElf rostering software.
Your current rostering
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Trusted by childcare centres across Australia
Hear from Australian businesses that simplified their scheduling with RosterElf
Andrew Nathan
November 13, 2025
"We are extremely happy with Roster Elf, it's a great improvement on the previous system we were using. Sean and all the staff have been fantastic, really know their stuff and make using RosterElf a pleasure."
Monica Van De Laak
October 16, 2025
"Sean was an amazing help, very patient and thorough."
Mary C.
October 13, 2025
"I can see my roster, enter availability, put leave in advance and clock on and off easily."
Common roles in childcare
Download free job description templates for your childcare team
Explore similar industries
See how RosterElf helps other businesses like yours
Childcare scheduling and rostering resources
Free scheduling tools, templates and guides for Australian childcare centres
Try childcare staff scheduling free
Build your first childcare roster in minutes. No credit card required.
Real support from people who understand your business
At RosterElf, support isn't a ticket system — it's part of the product. Our Australian-based team helps you set up correctly, understand award rules, and stay compliant as your business changes. No scripts. No offshore handoffs. Just real help when you need it.
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Guided setup and onboarding
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Award and payroll questions answered
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Ongoing help as your team grows
Childcare staff scheduling FAQ
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The best childcare scheduling software rosters each room against its own ratio and age group rather than the centre as a whole, holds Working with Children Checks and qualifications with expiry alerts, fills absences from a qualified casual pool, and exports to payroll with Children’s Services Award rates applied. RosterElf does all four.
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Build the roster per room and per hour, not per centre and per day. Ratios apply at every moment a room is occupied, so a roster that balances across the day can still breach for the gap between one educator finishing and the next starting.
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Publish the open shift to a pre-qualified casual pool and let the first available educator accept it. Because qualification and check requirements are held per person, the shift is only ever offered to somebody who can legally take it.