ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Handle childhood illness in your service with confidence.
Practical, evidence-informed illness management training for early childhood educators and directors.
- ✓ Written by a Masters-qualified paediatric nurse
- ✓ Cross-referenced against the NQS, EYLF and Staying Healthy
- ✓ Self-paced, with a Certificate of Completion
THE GAP NOBODY TALKS ABOUT
Sound familiar?
DROP-OFF
"They vomited once this morning, but they're totally fine now."
Do you accept them, keep a close eye on them, or send them home?
MID-MORNING
A child walks in looking off.
No fever, no rash, just not themselves. What are you watching for, and when do you call the family?
PICK-UP
"But that child is sicker than mine."
A family pushes back on your call. Could every educator explain the decision the same way?
ROOM TO ROOM
Two educators, two different calls.
One room sends a child home, the next one doesn't. Which one was right?
If you still find yourself hesitating, not quite sure what to do or say next, that's not a failure of effort. It's a gap in training.
TRAINING THAT PICKS UP WHERE FIRST AID STOPS
First aid training covers the maybe. Sick Happens training covers the inevitable.
FIRST AID
The scary-maybe moments.
Choking, broken bones, burns and the hope-it-never-happens events. Essential, but it doesn't cover the everyday sick child.
SICK HAPPENS
The grey-zone of *everyday* illness.
Fevers, rashes, coughs, snotty noses and all the grey areas in between. The inevitable situations you're dealing with every single day.
YOUR COMPLETE ILLNESS MANAGEMENT ECOSYSTEM
Bringing the laws, clinical standards and educational frameworks to life with real-world training.
National Law, Regulations and WHS
Regulations 77 and 168 require sound hygiene practices and an infectious diseases policy. Work health and safety laws add a duty to manage biological hazards for staff.
Staying Healthy Guidelines
The NHMRC national guidance on exclusion periods, hygiene and cleaning. Most services build it into their policy, and staff are then required to follow it.
NQS and EYLF
The NQS is the quality bar your service self-assesses against every year and is publicly rated on. The EYLF is the learning framework your program must, by law, be based on.
Sick Happens
Practical training that gives your whole team the same skills, the same escalation pathway and the same words to use with families.
These frameworks are always changing. Staying Healthy (6th edition, 2024), the WHS Model Code of Practice for biological hazards (March 2026) and the NQS (refined January 2026) have all changed in the past 2 years. Course content is updated regularly to reflect these changes.Correct and current as of July 2026.
GET THE ALIGNMENT GUIDEWHAT'S INSIDE
Five modules. One clear way to manage childhood illness.
Designed for the messy-middle, grey-zone daily reality of the early childhood and care sector.
1MODULE 1: FOUNDATIONSWhy children get sick in group settings
Before your team can respond to illness confidently, they need to understand what's actually happening:
- How a child's immune system works, and why it behaves differently in the early years
- The anatomical differences that make children more susceptible to illness
- Why educators are uniquely placed to reduce the spread, without running a mini hospital
BONUS: Quick reference guide for normal breathing and heart rates in children
2MODULE 2: ASSESSWhat are we actually seeing?
Your team's go-to guide for the symptoms that show up most in childhood illness. The goal isn't diagnosis. It's recognition, assessment and knowing what to do next, with no more guesswork or differences of opinion between staff.
- Fever
- Respiratory distress
- Coughs and runny noses
- Rashes and skin changes
- Behavioural changes, including lethargy and pain
- Vomiting and diarrhoea
- Dehydration
BONUSES: Rash reference guide, pain scales for children, teething vs illness fact sheet and real-world breathing examples
3MODULE 3: RESPONDWhat do we do now?
When illness strikes, your team needs to know exactly what to do, and in what order. This module teaches a clear four-stage escalation process, grey areas included.
- Monitor
- Exclude
- First aid
- Ambulance
BONUS: Escalation Pathway Flowchart for your whole team
4MODULE 4: PREVENTHow do we stop it spreading?
Keeping illness at bay in a group setting is genuinely hard. This module gives your team practical strategies that work in the real world, not ideal conditions.
- How illness spreads through the chain of infection
- Staff responsibilities in prevention
- The real challenges in early childhood settings, and how to overcome them
- Making hygiene fun and easy for children
BONUSES: Chain of Infection guide and Hygiene Games pack
5MODULE 5: CONNECTHow do we get families on the same page?
Sick policies cause more tension between families and educators than almost anything else. This module gives your team the words and confidence to handle those conversations, including the hard ones.
- Why consistent communication is the biggest factor in compliance
- Building a culture of open, respectful conversations about illness
- Handling pushback like "it's just teething" and "they caught it here anyway"
- Aligning your team so every educator says the same thing
MORE THAN TICK-THE-BOX TRAINING
Professional development that makes your whole service run better.
A consistent framework
Illness is handled the same way, by every educator, every time, across every room and shift.
A shared language
Between staff, between shifts, and between your service and families. Everyone says the same thing.
A proactive culture
Less burnout, fewer family conflicts and better protection for children, before illness becomes a crisis.
Simpler decisions
No more second-guessing, no more policy confusion, no more "I wasn't sure, so I just..."
The ideal meets the real
Compliance, safety and teamwork that work with limited staffing, family pushback and inevitable sickness.
FROM PENNY
Built because educators asked for it.
I'm a paediatric nurse with 15+ years of experience. I've sat with thousands of families in some of their most frightening moments, and my two boys have certainly done their part in the daycare germ economy.
Through my work, I kept noticing the same thing: educators were managing sick children every day without any formal training to do it. Not because they didn't care, but because the training didn't exist.
First aid covers emergencies. Allergy and asthma have their own courses. But everyday illness, the kind that walks through your door every morning, sits in a grey zone.
So when educators started reaching out through my work with Sick Happens asking for help, I built the training they asked for, to bridge the gap between the regulations and real-world practice.
Penny Blunden
Masters-qualified paediatric nurse · Mum of two · Founder, Sick Happens
WHAT EDUCATORS SAY
Trusted by educators and clinicians.
★★★★★
“The Sick Happens course for educators is a fantastic resource, and different to any other professional development opportunity I've experienced. Engaging and informative, it gives clarity around common questions that arise about childhood illnesses. Lots of ideas to inspire critical reflection, especially around quality areas 2 and 6.”
MELISSA, EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER★★★★★
“Thank you for creating a course to educate the early childhood sector, for when 'sick happens'. Ensuring all our educators are equipped with correct and factual information so they can be confident in assessing a sick child, and empowering them to have the sometimes tricky conversations with the child's family.”
SARAH, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR★★★★★
“I've been a paediatric GP for 15 years, working with anxious parents through their children's illnesses, and I cannot fault or improve on a single word of the advice Penny so generously shares.”
PAEDIATRIC GPTRAINING OPTIONS
Choose the right fit for your team.
Whether you're upskilling yourself or training your whole team, you pay once. No lock-in contracts, no automatic renewals.
Whole service
Consistent training across your whole team
$2,999 once (inc GST)
- 12 months of unlimited access
- No limit on staff numbers
- New staff can upskill at no extra cost
- All bonus downloads
- Certificate of Completion for every staff member
Individual educator
Upskilling starts today
$299 once (inc GST)
- 6 months of access to all content
- Learn at your own pace
- All bonus downloads
- Certificate of Completion for your PD portfolio
Running more than one service?Email Penny for a customised quote.
TALK TO PENNYNeed to share it with your director?The Information Pack covers the course, NQS alignment and pricing.
GET THE INFO PACKFAQ
Questions directors ask
Who should complete this training?
Anyone who works with babies and children: early childhood educators in public and private settings, room leaders, directors, OOSH and after-school care coordinators, nannies, au pairs and babysitters. If children are in your care, and they get sick, this course is for you.
Is this different to first aid?
Very different. First aid covers accidents and emergencies, the maybe stuff. This course covers everyday childhood illness, the inevitable stuff: the fevers, rashes, dehydration and grey areas first aid doesn't touch.
Is Sick Happens an RTO?
No. Sick Happens is not a Registered Training Organisation. This is practical professional development, not a compliance checkbox. The Certificate of Completion suits your Professional Development Portfolio.
Do staff receive a certificate?
Yes. Every staff member who completes all modules receives a Certificate of Completion.
Is there a staff limit on the service option?
No. All staff at your service can complete the training, including new staff who join during the access period. Staff need an email address on your service's domain (for example @yourcentre.com.au). Using personal emails? Just let Penny know.
Are there lock-in contracts?
None. You pay once, with no hidden fees and no automatic renewals.
Do you offer multi-service pricing?
Yes. Groups of 5 to 9 centres are $2,400 per centre, and 10 or more are $2,000 per centre (inc GST). Contact Penny to set it up.
Can the training be tailored to our service?
Yes. Penny can create customised training built around your service and the challenges you keep running into. Get in touch, and Penny will reply personally.
FREE FOR EDUCATORS
Conversation prompts for tricky chats with families
Tricky chats get easier when you've got the right words to begin.
TRUSTED. CALM. EVIDENCE-BASED.
Give your whole team one confident and consistent way to handle sick days.
Want something tailored to your service? Penny also creates customised training. Get in touch