Individual Child Programming

• Programs are emerged to meet the individual needs and interests of each child
• Programs reflect observations made by child care professionals and families
• 3,900 developmental prompts to save you time
• Add your own developmental observations to reflect your expertise and the unique skills and interests of each child
• 2,500 materials, resource and activities to stimulate your creativity
• Add your own materials, resources and activities that represent what really happens in day to day practice
• Carry forward program elements from one program to the next saving you time
• Incorporate records made by families and specialists

Individual Record Keeping

• Fast data entry based on your individual child programs
• Record individual interests and the materials, resources and activities associated with those interests
• Create unlimited developmental programs per child
• Write unlimited journal entries grouped into categories such as Health, Safety, Well-being, Toileting, Milestones, Nutrition, etc.
• Upload an unlimited number of photos and images with associated comments to help you demonstrate learning objectives
• No more filing boxes as your records are stored electronically
• Free storage for 24 years
• Ability to print records at any time in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format

Group Programming

• Consolidate Individual Child Programs into group programs to work more effectively during the day
• Group programs include materials, resources and activities categorised in to Indoor, Outdoor, Story time, etc. so you can organise each day
• Group programs can be created for any period during the week or weekly (eg. Mon-Wed, Thu-Fri, All Week, Tue only, etc.)
• Groups programs can be printed in two formats:
  1. for public display without names so that families know what's happening; and
  2. for confidential use with names by staff

Group Record Keeping

• Create multiple Journal entries. Write one journal entry for multiple children saving you lots of time (eg. write "Went to the zoo" once and apply to 30 child records instead of writing it 30 times in 30 different daybooks).
• Edit groups of children at the same time to reduce your data entry
• Independent group journal to record what was occurring in the group (rather than individual child)
• Upload an unlimited number of photos and images with associated comments to help demonstrate group objectives
• Photographic evidence is isolated from individual child programs to protect child privacy
• Unique group programs with information independent of child programs

Family Communication

• Communicate with families any time. Information available to families when they need it at a convenient time for them.
• All communication to/from families kept for 24 years
• Families receive their own independent developmental program so you can incorporate their feedback when programming
• Supports multiple independent guardians (essential for parents working remotely or where family breakdowns occur)
• Supports independent third parties such as specialists (eg. speech therapists, psychologists, doctors, etc.)
• All communication is private, confidential and secure

Staff Communication

• Use child and group journals to record important information for other staff
• Staff can access prior information when they need it
• Promotes consistency in care when you have high numbers of casual/relief staff
• Helps with the induction of new staff

Training and Support

• Telephone support 8am to 8pm AEST 7 days per week
• Email support 24 hours per day (allow 2 business days for response)
• On-site training available for day care centres, preschools and family day care schemes (please contact us for details)

Curriculum Frameworks and Philosophies

• Implements Australia's Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
• Implements New Zealand's Te Whariki
• Implements Learning Stories
• Implement a specific approach (eg. Reggio Emelia, Steiner, Montessori, etc.)
• Develop and manage your own unique approach according to your cultural and/or philosophical perspective
• Easily adapts to other frameworks and philosophies including faith and spiritual based curriculums

Regulation and Compliance

• Implements requirements necessary for Child Care Accreditation in all States and Territories of Australia
• Range of reports to meet regulatory requirements
• Critical Years has a policy of quickly introducing changes to meet new government requirements

Privacy, Security and Liability

• Features are designed to ensure the privacy of children, families and service providers
• All transmission secured by industry standard 128 bit SSL (as used for online banking transactions)

Global Features

• Multilingual versions available on request in any language (eg. Chinese, Thai, Russian, Arabic, etc. Specific languages may be translated on request)
• Culture specific (eg. Australian terminology, US terminology, UK terminology, NZ terminology, etc.)
• Can support corporate languages and co-branding for large service providers

System Requirements

• No software installation required
• Uses industry standard browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.
• We recommend a broadband internet connection with 1.5Mbit ADSL or faster. Ideally ADSL 2+

Ease of Use

• Suitable for users with basic computer skills (if you can use Hotmail, Google, Facebook, etc. then you can use Critical Years)
• Intuitive screen design
• Email and telephone support when you need help

No Obligation 28 Day Trial

• 28 day no obligation trial. We'll even provide free support while you familiarise yourself