Keep children's photos and records where they belong.
Families trust you with photos, medical details and custody orders. Our fixed-price Tech Health Check shows, in five business days, who can see that information, which devices hold it, how educators are using AI, and which software you can stop paying for.
Why centres are looking at this now
Service-issued devices only
Since 27 February 2026, National Law changes mean centre-based services may take and store images of children only on service-issued devices, and personal devices are restricted while staff work with children. Those devices need to be secure, managed and accountable.
CCTV and child safety
The Child Safe Standards and Quality Area 2 expect you to control who can see information about children, including CCTV footage: who can view it, where it is stored and how long it is kept.
Governance evidence
Quality Area 7 asks for systems that manage risk and keep records secure. Assessors may ask how.
AI in the room
Educators are using AI to write observations and newsletters. Children's details should never go into public AI tools.
The five folds, for childcare centres
Each finding is mapped to the National Quality Standard (Quality Area 2: children's health and safety, and Quality Area 7: governance and leadership), the Child Safe Standards and the Privacy Act.
People
Who can get in. Most breaches in care start with an account that should have been switched off, or a password with no second step.
What we check
- Accounts of everyone who has left, across every system
- Multi-factor login on every staff account
- Admin rights and shared logins
- Same-day onboarding and offboarding
- Privacy and phishing awareness for staff
For childcare centres
Educators move between centres. We find the ones who can still open the family app, enrolment records and centre email.
AI
How your team uses AI. Staff are already using it to write notes, reports and newsletters, often with personal information in the prompt.
What we check
- Which AI tools staff use, and what goes into them
- AI features already switched on in Microsoft 365, Google and your software
- A one-page AI use policy staff will actually read
- Safe automations, with a person approving every output
- Privacy policy updates for automated decisions from December 2026
For childcare centres
Observations and learning stories written with AI, sometimes with a child's name or photo in the prompt. We set a clear rule and a safe alternative.
Spend
What you pay for. Licences for people who left, two tools doing the same job, and plans nobody has reviewed since setup.
What we check
- Every subscription, with an owner and renewal date
- Licences paid for against licences actually used
- Duplicate and overlapping tools
- Not-for-profit and education discounts
- Savings listed in dollars, with the action to take
For childcare centres
Separate apps per room or per centre, and licences for educators who left last year.
Security
How your devices, network and email are defended, measured against the Australian Cyber Security Centre Essential Eight.
What we check
- Laptops, phones and tablets encrypted, updated and able to be wiped
- Email protection against fake invoices and phishing
- Wi-Fi separated for staff, guests and cameras
- Room tablets and sign-in kiosks locked to the apps they need
- Essential Eight snapshot in plain English
For childcare centres
Service-issued tablets for photos and observations, sign-in kiosks, CCTV on the same network as staff Wi-Fi, and phishing emails to directors.
Data
What you keep, who can see it, and whether you could get it back. This is where audits, assessments and breach notifications land.
What we check
- Files shared with "anyone with the link"
- Backups outside Microsoft or Google, with a tested restore
- Who can edit or delete incident records
- A written data breach response plan
- Privacy policy that matches where information really lives
For childcare centres
Enrolment, medical, custody and photo records, plus CCTV footage: who can view it, where it is stored and how long it is kept.
Room tablets and kiosks
Set up with Microsoft Intune or Apple Business Manager, locked to the apps educators need, and wiped remotely if lost.
Centre network
Separate Wi-Fi for staff, families and cameras, content filtering on room devices, and a backup connection so sign-in and Child Care Subsidy reporting keep working.
CCTV footage
Who can view it, from where, how long it is kept, and whether remote access is secured.
Groups of centres
One review across all your centres, with a result for each centre and a single report for owners or the board. Ask us for group pricing.
Systems we review: Xplor, Kinderm8, Storypark, OWNA, QikKids and similar family apps and centre management systems, including whether multi-factor login, single sign-on and image-access restrictions are switched on; Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace; room tablets and sign-in kiosks; centre Wi-Fi and CCTV networks. We are independent of these vendors.
Five days, start to finish
About two hours of your time across the week. Everything else is on us.
Kickoff call
45 minutes on your services, team, systems and next audit or assessment. You give us read-only access.
Review
We check the five folds remotely: accounts, AI use, every subscription, devices and security settings, and your records.
Report
A plain-English report: scorecard, findings mapped to your standards, savings, and an AI use snapshot.
Walkthrough
45 minutes to take you through the findings and a prioritised 30-day fix plan.
Every finding is labelled Verified (we checked it directly), Sampled (we checked a sample) or Reported by you. Penetration testing, on-site inspections and legal advice are not included, and the Health Check is not an audit or an assessment and rating visit.
Simple, fixed pricing
Start with the Health Check. Fix the gaps yourself, with your current IT provider, or with us. No lock-in.
Tech Health Check
- Review across all five folds: People, AI, Spend, Security and Data
- Red, amber and green scorecard
- Gaps mapped to the National Quality Standard and Child Safe Standards
- Snapshot against the ACSC Essential Eight
- AI use snapshot and a starter AI policy for staff
- Software savings list with dollar values
- Prioritised 30-day fix plan and 45-minute walkthrough
- Free if we find neither savings nor a material gap
- Fee credited if you start Fix & Harden within 60 days
Fix & Harden
- We close the gaps from your report
- Multi-factor login for every staff member
- Same-day offboarding checklist set up
- Devices locked down and able to be wiped
- Backups configured and restore-tested
- Data breach plan and AI use policy adopted
- Evidence pack for your auditor or assessor
Managed IT & Care
- Help desk for your staff, onshore and offshore
- Phones, laptops, tablets and shared devices managed with Microsoft Intune
- Same-day access removal for every leaver
- Backups with a monthly restore test
- Monthly access, AI use and software spend review
- Evidence kept current all year
- Quarterly report for your board or owners
An independent review, not a sales visit
Many IT companies offer a free assessment that leads to a quote for a monthly contract. Ours is a paid, independent review you keep, whoever does the fixes.
| Typical "free IT assessment" | Fivefold Care Tech Health Check | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, quote to follow | $1,490 fixed, published |
| Who does it | Often a salesperson | A CISSP-certified senior security lead |
| What you get | A proposal for a monthly contract | A written report mapped to your standards, yours to keep |
| AI | Rarely covered | How your staff use AI, plus a starter AI policy |
| Software costs | Rarely reviewed | Every subscription reviewed, savings in dollars |
| Independence | Often resells what it recommends | No reseller commissions on anything we recommend |
| If nothing is found | Not applicable | You don't pay |
A senior team, led from Australia
Every engagement has a named senior lead based in Australia, backed by our security, cloud, data and software engineers and our onshore and offshore support team. Offshore team members do not access systems holding participant or child information without your written approval.
Questions from childcare centres
No. Only your state or territory regulatory authority can assess and rate your service. We get the technology side ready: who can access children's records, how photos are handled, and the evidence your governance policies call for.
Yes. We review user access, roles and login security in Xplor, Kinderm8, Storypark, OWNA, QikKids and similar family apps and centre management systems, including whether multi-factor login and image-access restrictions are switched on, from read-only access or a screen share with your administrator. We don't resell any of them.
We review settings, accounts and permissions, not children's records or photos. We use read-only access and never copy records out of your systems. See how we handle data.
From 27 February 2026, changes to the National Law mean centre-based services may take and store images of children only on service-issued devices, and personal devices are restricted while staff work directly with children, with limited exemptions. The rules and penalties vary between states, so check your regulator's guidance. The Health Check shows whether your service-issued devices are set up securely and who can access the photos on them.
The Health Check is fully remote. For hardware, Wi-Fi or CCTV work that needs someone on site, tell us where your centre is and we'll confirm what we can arrange.
Yes. Single centres usually have the biggest gaps because nobody owns IT. If educators use tablets for photos and families get updates through an app, the Health Check applies to you.
The Health Check is fully remote, so we work with centres anywhere in Australia. Ask us about on-site help in your area.
Check where you stand today
The Fivefold Care 25-point checklist
Five checks for each fold, with notes for childcare centres. Run it in an afternoon.
Free 15-minute access check
On a short screen share, we count how many former educators still have live accounts in your email and family app. You keep the list.
Fivefold Care is not affiliated with ACECQA or any state or territory regulatory authority. The Health Check does not guarantee an assessment and rating outcome.
Book a 15-minute call
Tell us about your centre and your next assessment and rating visit. If the Health Check is a fit, we can start this week. If not, we'll point you in the right direction.
Choose a time