KU Annual Report 2007 | Page 4

Chairman ’ s report

Penny Le Couteur Chairman , Board of Directors
2007 Highlights
Within KU 2007 was a year of major change and during that time early childhood education and care was placed at the forefront of federal government policy .
In May , Antoinette le Marchant retired after 13 years as CEO of KU . Antoinette was regarded with enormous respect by the early childhood education and care community . She introduced a wide range of improvements to KU ’ s operations during her tenure , including the expansion of corporate long day care centres and family programs , and improved working conditions for staff . On behalf of the Board I would like to acknowledge Antoinette ’ s many achievements over her long and distinguished service with KU .
In June we welcomed Sheridan Dudley as our new CEO . Sheridan brings to KU extensive experience as a CEO in the not-for-profit sector and local government , and senior executive experience in the public sector including community and children ’ s services .
KU opened a new Joey Club for Qantas in Melbourne in January with Air Services Australia joining the partnership in November . There are plans for a new Joey Club in Brisbane in 2008 .
Negotiations regarding a new work-based child care centre are well advanced and preparations are under way to transfer 2 community-based child care centres to KU in 2008 .
Board Activities In July the Board commenced work on developing a clear strategic direction for KU to guide our future planning . Following an organisational review by the CEO , the Board and KU ’ s Senior Management Team engaged in a strategic planning process . This innovative , outcomes-focused process enabled us to clearly articulate a Five- Year Vision for KU and identify our Key Objectives and Strategies to achieve it . In August the Draft Plan was sent to all KU centres and programs for consultation . It was gratifying to see the active engagement in this process both by centres and individual staff . Many of their comments and suggestions considerably strengthened the Plan . In September 2007 the Board adopted the Strategic Plan : Making “ the KU Difference ” and I formally launched it at the Annual Seminar in October .
At the same time , the Board undertook a review of the purpose , terms of reference and membership of Board Committees . This resulted in clarifying their status as governance or advisory committees , terms of reference more clearly aligned to our strategic direction and the establishment of a separate Audit and Risk Committee to complement the Finance Committee .
Board Committees have continued to play an active and important role in the governance of KU during the year .
The Strategic Plan process clearly identified the need for the KU brand to achieve greater recognition as “ the best there is ” in early childhood education and care and the Marketing Committee recommended to the Board that greater emphasis be placed on marketing . Additionally it was recommended that a rebranding project be undertaken . The Board accepted these recommendations and Principals was appointed to undertake the rebranding project which commenced in November .
Interviews , workshops and focus groups were held with the Board , senior management , a broad cross-section of Central Office and centre-based staff , parents , government officials , partners and stakeholders .
The Board is committed to a major focus on marketing and has approved funds in the 2008 Budget for the establishment of a Marketing Department and the implementation of the new brand . The Committee also discussed specific marketing support for centres identified with lower than anticipated utilisation and as a result a Marketing Co-ordinator was employed in September 2007 .
The Strategic Plan also identified the need for KU to continue to increase the quality of its early childhood education and care services . The Education Committee oversighted the development and publication of two major new KU resources : Guiding Children ’ s Behaviour , and Framework for Curriculum Planning and Documentation of Children ’ s Learning . Work continued on identifying the criteria for quality in KU services with a goal of making recommendations to the Board on key areas to be addressed early in 2008 .
The Finance Committee continued to oversight KU ’ s financial performance and it was again pleasing to see that overall KU ’ s utilisation and performance against budget continued to be satisfactory . A number of improvements were made to the Budget process with a formal Budget Strategy being developed and recommended to the Board a month before consideration of the 2008 Budget . This has enabled KU to fully align its Budget with the Strategic Plan .
2007 also saw some major changes in Government policy both at State and Federal level .
In NSW the State election saw the return of the Labor Government and its continued commitment to the next stages of the Preschool Investment and
4 KU ’ s 112 th Annual Report 2007