The Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS) provides Australia’s first conceptual, governance‑aligned framework for infection‑control cleaning in early childhood education and care (ECEC). This publication outlines the CCS at a standards‑ready, policy‑facing level, defining its purpose, scope, core objectives, guiding principles, and governance architecture. It establishes role separation, governance separation, and the accountability loop as foundational elements of a national approach to infection‑control cleaning. This document forms part of the CCS public body of work, alongside the Proposal for a National Childcare Cleaning Standard and the CCS Architecture Overview.