English and childminding funding

Applications for English and childminding funding in Term 1 and Term 2 2025, will open from 17 October, with an extended deadline to 5pm AEDT 6 December 2024. Applications submitted after the closing date will not be accepted. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted, and hub leaders will be advised of the outcome before the end of Term 4, 2024. Funding requirements will need to be completed before Term 1 and Term 2 applications can be approved. To revisit what these requirements are, scroll further down this page.

 

To start completing your application, go to SmartyGrants – here.

For an overview of the English and childminding funding requirements, watch the short video below.

For FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), please scroll down towards the bottom of this page.

 

Key dates – Term 1 and Term 2, 2025 funding round

ACTIVITY   DATE

Applications open in SmartyGrants

CHA will review applications as they are submitted and will reach out to each hub leader with an update on their application and any further actions required.

 17 October 

Drop-in session (optional)

For hub leaders to drop in where they have questions about completing the application form in SmartyGrants. 

To register, click on the link for the session you would like to attend below:

Feedback session (optional)

An opportunity for hub leaders and support coordinators to talk through with the CHA team how changes to funding may affect their community and to explore how hubs can navigate this.
CHA will host these meetings as a way to hear thoughts on some of the ways we could solve for this.

 

To register, click on one of the links below:

Applications close

Please note this is the extended final deadline for applications to be submitted. New applications will not be accepted after the closing date.

If your application submission is incomplete or missing
elements, we will ask you to make amendments and resubmit for review.

 6 December, 5pm AEDT

Deadline for resubmitted applications

Resubmitted applications will not be accepted after this date. 

 6 – 13 December

 

Last day for Term 3 and 4, 2024 invoices to be submitted

 

10 December 

Outcome of resubmitted applications communicated

Please note applications will be reviewed as they are submitted

 

13 – 20 December  

 

Community Hubs Australia (CHA) has received funding from the Federal government to provide opportunities for adults to learn and practise English, along with childminding to support English classes in the hubs

In line with funding requirements, the application process collects the following:

  • English provider details: name / organisation, ABN, a description of qualification or relevant skills and experience.
  • Lesson plans for each planned English activity. To see an example of a lesson plan, click here
  • A quote for service delivery (English and/or childminding) signed by Principal or school business manager. To see an example of a quote, click here

Funding limits

The new funding limit is a maximum of $3,000 per hub per term, to be used for English, childminding, or both.  That’s $3,000 in total with the amount GST exclusive.

For example, a hub applies for $1,000 for English and $1,500 for childminding in Term 1. For Term 2, the same hub applies for $2,700 for English and $300.

English must be free of charge to participants and open to anyone.  

If your English language provider has eligibility requirements that will exclude some participants, you should consider a different English provider – hubs are for everyone. 

The content and format of the activity can be tailored to suit the needs of the community, meaning English could be delivered as –  

  • Beginner, intermediate or advanced 
  • English for citizenship 
  • English for jobs / skills training to a vocational pathway 
  • English for school readiness with parent and child.  

Regardless of how the English is delivered, the provider must be suitably qualified or hold relevant skills to teach English to adults. For example: 

  • When running a conversational English class, at the very minimum, this needs to be someone with relevant skills and ability to facilitate the activity.  For example, this would be someone with experience in teaching adult learners.
  • When running a formal English program across the term (e.g. Certificate III in English), this needs to be someone who holds an adult English teaching qualification such as Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA).

A chef or sewing instructor is not an English provider. A sewing class may provide the opportunity to practise English, however this is not an English class and is not eligible for CHA funding.  

  • English funding CAN be used
  • To pay an English facilitator/provider to run English classes for adults in the hub. This includes, within reason, preparation time.
  • English funding CANNOT be used
  •  For hub activities that are conducted in English, but are not primarily English classes, (eg. sewing, cooking, formal training).
  •  To support English activity in the hub (e.g. catering, teaching materials, printing) or for resourcing to support non-English activity.
  • ✖ To pay for an interpreter to support the English class.
  •  To run literacy classes for those with English as a first language.
  •  To pay the hub leader to follow up with families and/or support the English provider with preparation or delivery.
  •  For transport of hub participants to and from the English class.
  • For transport, catering and resources for English class excursions.
  • To run English classes for children only. 

As part of planning English classes for your hub, keep in mind that there may be an opportunity for you to work with providers in your local area that are already funded from other sources. It’s worth exploring this as one of your first options. Please reach out to your support coordinator, should you need support with this.

Please note there is no expectation that hubs run English classes or apply for funding. This depends on community need and priorities of the hub.

Childminding may be offered to a hub participant with pre-school aged children alongside English classes to increase participation. The funding must be used during an English activity only and provided onsite where English is being delivered. Other activities run in your hub that require childminding are not supported by this funding.

Childminders do not require special qualifications like childcare workers. A childminder looks after the children of hub participants and should be in the same building as the parent who remains responsible for the child’s behaviour, safety and wellbeing. Many hubs employ a hub participant as a childminder as a way of supporting them with paid employment. For many, it’s their first job in Australia.

A childcare worker holds full responsibility of the children they look after. Childminding funding can be used to pay for childminding, not childcare.

  • Childminding funding CAN be used  
  • To pay a childminder to look after the children of hub participants attending the English class. This includes the setting up, and packing away, of toys and books for the childminding activity. This can be up to 30 minutes, before and after the English activity in the hub.  
  • Childminding funding CANNOT be used
  •  To pay a childminder to perform non-childminding activities in the hub or the school.
  •  To pay a childminder to look after the English facilitator’s child only.
  • To pay a childminder to look after the children of hub participants attending a non-English activity. 
  • ✖ To pay for childcare responsibilities.

Childminding may be offered by a hub participant employed by the school, or someone who has an ABN / their own business. For hub participants, this is often seen as an employment opportunity, for some their first job in Australia. Alternatively, childminding can also be provided by a childminding service provider.

Funding requirements

When applying for this grant, you should be aware of the reporting requirements which enable CHA to share data with funders as part of our contractual obligations. The full reporting requirements are listed below:

Invoice submission per term (uploaded onto SmartyGrants by the hub leader)

  • Invoices can be issued directly to CHA from the English and / or childminding provider, or can be issued from your school.
  • Invoices should be uploaded towards the end of each term and should only be uploaded for classes that happen within the term. 
  • CHA will query invoices that do not match Hub Portal information. Click here for more information on invoicing for these programs. 

Participant evaluation (completed by hub leader and/or English facilitator, uploaded to Microsoft Forms): 

  • Record the visa category, demographics and year of arrival for all English program participants – only once for each participant. 
  • Apply a simple evaluation to measure English progress and/or increased English proficiency for each participant within the CHA funded period.

Program evaluation (completed by hub leader  in SmartyGrants): 

  • Complete an evaluation at the end of the funded period detailing how the funding was used and the outcomes achieved.
  • Collect and report the number of families using the childminding service on site and the number of childminders your hub employed.
  • To ensure your reporting is correct, when you enter English activities into the portal, please be sure to select “CHA English and childminding funding” as a partner.

If you have any questions regarding your application, please contact Maia on maianelson@communityhubs.org.au

Reporting requirements

In practise, this is how we plan to work with each of these requirements.

As part of the requirements for providing this funding, the Department of Home Affairs asks that we record the visa category, demographics (gender, age etc) and year of arrival in Australia for each person taking part in a CHA funded English program. You will need to record this information for everyone that attends an English program in your hub on the visa category form below. 

Please note: 

  • the form only needs to be completed once for each participant. Previous participants will not need to complete this form again.  
  • the data from these forms will be aggregated, which means that no individual can be identified.  

Your English facilitator is required to demonstrate the progress made by participants in the English program. If they already have a tool to measure English progress, they should continue to use it. Please email Maia on maianelson@communityhubs.org.au to let her know what the measure of English progress is for your hub. 

If your English facilitator does not have a measure of English progress in place, please use the measure of English progress form below.   

The measure of English progress must be completed for each participant who regularly participates in the English program e.g 3 or more sessions. Please ensure that these forms are submitted to CHA before the end of the funded period.  

It’s possible that your hub already has a relationship with the AMEP but if you don’t, this is something your support coordinator will help you with.

How you decide to structure your hubs’ approach to AMEP referrals is up to you. You could consider inviting your local AMEP person to visit a couple of times a year, or you could refer people when you, or they, think they’re ready.

Please let us know what your approach is.

To see a list of AMEP providers in your local area follow this link: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/settling-in-australia/amep/find-a-class/providers-and-locations

As part of the program funding requirements the hub leader is responsible for the following:

  • Completing a program summary at the end of the funded period detailing how the funding was used and the outcomes achieved
  • Collecting and reporting the number of families using the childminding service on site and how many childminders were employed in your hub.
  • Recording how your school spent the English and / or childminding funding during the grant period.
  • To complete the Hub leader program and expenditure summary form for Term 1 and Term 2, 2024, log in to SmartyGrants, and click through to the ‘My Submissions’ page. If you need help locating the form, follow the same steps used when invoicing for your English and / or childminding activity.

*To complete the Hub leader program and expenditure summary form for Term 1 and Term 2, 2024, log in to SmartyGrants, and click through to the ‘My Submissions’ page. If you need help locating the form, follow the same steps used when invoicing for your English and / or childminding activity.

Invoicing

Once your application is approved, you will be required to upload an invoice to CHA each term for payment through SmartyGrants. Click here for more information on invoicing for these programs. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Funding application

The new funding limit is a maximum of $3,000 per hub per term, to be used for English, childminding, or both.  That’s $3,000 in total with the amount GST exclusive.

For example, a hub applies for $1,000 for English and $1,500 for childminding in Term 1. For Term 2, the same hub applies for $2,700 for English and $300.

Funding applications will be reviewed as they are submitted, and we will come back to you with any queries or the outcome of the application. 

All applications need to be submitted by the deadline specified in the funding application.  

Yes. You only need to complete sections on the form that relate to the type of funding you are applying for. 

Yes. Please provide the school’s ABN in your application.  

– The number of hours the English facilitator or childminder will be paid. For English facilitators, this needs to include preparation time.
– The amount that the English facilitator or childminder is charging for their services.
– ABN.
– A brief description of the service being provided.

English

If your hub is new or this is the first time that your hub has applied for English program funding, please talk to you support coordinator to help you with the process.  

If your hub already has a funded English program, that’s great. The CHA funding is available for anyone who needs it – however it is not mandatory to apply.

If you do not require funding for your English class, you can still apply for childminding to support the English class.

We may still ask your facilitator to collect participants’ visa category and a measure of English progress. This will help us to understand everyone’s eligibility to attend the AMEP.

Preparation and administration time for English facilitators will be covered, however it must be reasonable.

For ongoing regular classes, the ratio of 1 hour preparation and administration to 1 hour delivery is reasonable for the first English class only. From the second English class onwards, a more reasonable ratio would be 15-30 minutes preparation and administration to 1 hour delivery. The ratio of preparation and administration to delivery will vary between English facilitators and depends on their existing resources. We note that some English facilitators will include preparation and administration time in their hourly rate, and others will cost it separately. Please note that preparation and administration time includes cost of resources, for example, printing of workbooks.

In the table below, we have illustrated how this might work for a hub, assuming the English facilitator charges $50 per hour.

In the first section, we assume the ‘New English class’ is run in the hub for the very first time in Term 2. Because it’s new for the hub (and the facilitator), we expect the amount of preparation and administration time for the very first class to be more and each subsequent class to be less.

Using the same example, the hub leader then decides to run similar activity in Term 3. Again, we assume the English facilitator charges an hourly rate of $50. In the ‘Existing English class (similar to Term 2)’ example, you will see that the facilitator charges less time for preparation and administration given they can recycle materials they have been paid to develop for the first activity they ran in Term 2.

Example:

That’s fine. It is the hub leader’s responsibility to manage this. Please email Maia to advise of any changes – maianelson@communityhubs.org.au.

It is the hub leader’s responsibility to manage any changes with providers. Hub leaders cannot apply for more funding in addition to what CHA has already approved.

The lesson plan example we have provided is a guide only, to give you an idea about the detail we need to consider your application. Your lesson plan does not need to be in the exact same format as the example given. However, it does need to provide an overview of the content and objectives the English facilitator is planning to cover for the English class across the term as well as the number of hours per session/per week.

The lesson plan is the responsibility of the English facilitator. We understand that the English facilitator may need to adjust their lesson plan based on the needs of the class and that they will discuss and share this with you. 

Qualified means that the English facilitator holds an adult English teaching qualification such as Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), or a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA). This qualification is typically required for a formal English program (e.g. Certificate III in English). When running an informal class, for example, conversational English, the facilitator needs to have relevant skills and experience to do so. For example, they would have experience in teaching adult learners.

Childminding

If you have applied for childminding funding, but not English funding, it would be great if you are able to complete the forms for measure of English progress and visa category for everyone in your English class. Any extra data we have to report back to government counts, and helps us show them how valuable this program is to our communities.

That’s fine. It is the hub leader’s responsibility to manage this. Please contact Maia to advise of any changes – maianelson@communityhubs.org.au.

The funding is to be used for a childminder to look after the children of hub participants’ attending the English class. It is fine for the childminder to look after the English facilitator’s child, but only if they are also looking after children of hub participants attending the English class. Childminding funding cannot be used for a childminder to look after the English facilitator’s child only.

No. Funding can only be used to pay the childminder for the hours they are childminding which includes the setting up, and putting way, of toys and books. Payment for non-childminding activities is the responsibility of the school.

Invoicing and reporting

This form has been updated to include six new questions to capture how your school spent the allocated English and / or childminding funding during the grant period (Term 1 and 2, Term 3 and 4). Expenditure and attendance data collected in this form will help CHA to understand how allocated funding is being used in the hub.

Firstly, you need to go by the quote provided by your English provider. If, during the course of the term, the provider runs fewer classes, you will need to keep a record of this and only invoice CHA for the classes delivered. CHA will only pay invoices based on the approved funding amount and no more.

About the AMEP

How does the AMEP and community hubs English work together?

The Adult Migrant English Program is a free, formal English language tuition program, provided by the Australian Government. It aims to take participants to a level of English that will enhance their chances of employment.

The program is designed for migrants and humanitarian entrants to Australia with little or no English. Eligibility criteria has been updated to make it more accessible to these groups and to extend the scope of the language learning. This change occurred in early 2021.

We may still ask your facilitator to collect participants’ visa category and a measure of English progress. This will help us to understand everyone’s eligibility to attend the AMEP.

Recent reforms include:

  • enabling eligible participants to start the program at any point in time after their arrival in Australia
  • extending the exit of the program to the point where ‘vocational’ English is achieved to help ensure participants are better equipped to enter the job market
  • allowing eligible participants access to an unlimited amount of tuition hours
  • the use of online platforms to enable learning from home to enhance or to replace classroom-based learning.

The hubs’ conversational English program is a complement to, and can run alongside, the AMEP. The hub program provides English classes for all adults regardless of their visa type. These classes may be conversational, or structured in a way that best supports a hub participant’s learning and can be viewed as a soft entry to the more formal style of the AMEP.

Hubs can be the place that provides their participants the opportunities to practise and develop their English in a safe and supportive setting. As part of this funding, hubs will be able to provide childminding on site, enabling parents to participate in the classes which is a big bonus for women with young families.

Absolutely! This is already the case for many participants now.

Yes, where this is appropriate. For those who have very little or no English, they may prefer to start in the hubs’ less formal setting, before moving into the AMEP. The two services can run side-by-side or follow each other.

There is no obligation for hubs to automatically refer participants into the AMEP.

You could speak to your English teacher or invite your local AMEP provider to visit your hub regularly so that participants become familiar with the facilitator and their program. The AMEP provider will work out when participants are ready for the AMEP.

Want to know more about invoicing for your programs?