Frequently Asked Questions: OSHC

OSHC provides children with a welcoming, safe, and enriched environment with activities tailored to their interests. We make sure children have a say in planning and designing the activities. Our OSHC services are operated in collaboration with Catholic Primary Schools on site. The services are open to children from other schools.

We adhere to Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority’s guidelines specifically for OSHC (for full version www.acecqa.gov.au) which aim to extend and enrich children’s wellbeing and development.

All the sites have indoor and outdoor spaces, access to sporting and play equipment, arts and craft, games, and lots of fun activities. Children are provided a light breakfast (before school hours care) and afternoon tea (after school hours care).

All of our services are slightly different and some offer different services too! Here is a quick overview of the services and their operating hours.

Assumption OSHC:

Before School Care: 6.45am – 9am

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

Vacation Care: 6.45am – 6pm

Cathedral OSHC:

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

Vacation Care: 8am – 6pm

Holy Family OSHC: 

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

St Phil’s OSHC:

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

McAuley OSHC

Before School Care: 7am – 9am

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

Vacation Care: 8am – 6pm

St Mary’s OSHC:

After School Care: 3pm – 6pm

If your child is absent it is important that you let your Service Coordinator know as soon as possible. You can contact your Service Coordinator through Email at any time, or from 2pm on Weekdays on the Service Phone Number.

At the end of each day at school, children will walk over to their OSHC service to be signed in for the afternoon. Young children in Kindergarten that have just started OSHC for the first time will be collected from their classroom for the first term of the year to help support their transition into care and reduce any stress and confusion that comes with the end of day rush out of school. Some children come from other schools by bus each afternoon, using public school buses. The children that arrive via bus will be collected by regular OSHC educators from the bus stop.

Once the school bell rings at the end of the day, children will make their way over to the OSHC Area. There will be educators there waiting for your children to sign them in for the afternoon. If your child does not arrive when expected, we make sure to contact the school and families to ensure that child was meant to attend, or was absent that day.

Children are supervised throughout their time at OSHC, no matter what environment they are in. Children will have access to outdoor play environments, the indoor learning area and the bathroom / handwashing facilities. Children are taught through rule setting which areas are out of bounds, and these rules are reinforced through the educational program, group meetings and one-on-one discussions as needed.

Each session that your child attends OSHC they will be participating in our group educational program, in which interests and strengths of the children are transformed into learning activities through play-based learning experiences. There are also a variety of learning activities available outside of the programmed activity, both indoors and outdoors to meet the children’s physical need for rest or relaxation. There are lots of resources available within each OSHC service, with children able to pick and choose based on their own spontaneous interests that day.

Our menu is based on the attending children’s preference, and driven by our commitment to supporting children’s health and wellbeing. We ensure our food is fresh and fun for children, with fruit supplied each day and special items each day. Families and children are encouraged to share their feedback and ideas on future meals. The menu is embedded into our educational program, which is on display for families at the entrance of each service.

We value your feedback, and love to embed aspect of your child’s identity and strengths into our educational program. Families are encouraged to contact us via email or through HubHello (Educate App). We love to have discussions with you about your child’s learning and play each day, so conversations during the pick up and drop off period are also a great time for us to discuss feedback and give us the opportunity to get to know you better!

Our fees are as follows:

Term Time Fees for 2023

At Centacare OSHC we work closely with KU Inclusion Support and Gowrie NSW to provide inclusion to children and support educators in better understanding and meeting the diverse needs of attending children. We have created an Inclusion Support Pack for each family that identifies their child as having additional needs. This Inclusion Pack will walk you through the process of utilising Inclusion Support within the service and provide you with a variety of information about Inclusion Support practices, strategies and how KU and Gowrie support Centacare OSHC.

If your child has additional needs, this should be noted within the initial enrolment process. Once we review and see your notes on your child’s additional needs, we will get in contact with you to create an Inclusion Support Plan to ensure that your child is safe, happy and able to participate within their OSHC Service and Educational Program. Inclusion Support Plans will discuss your child’s strengths and goals and any measures and strategies that can be put in place to support your child. Inclusion Support Plans will be reviewed each year, or more regularly if required by the families, to ensure that plans are up to date and relevant to your child’s needs.

If your child requires medication to be administered during their OSHC Session, you must provide your OSHC Coordinator or Responsible Person on duty before filling out our Permission to Administer Medicine form. This form will be signed by your children’s educators, with time and dosage being written down. A second Educator will always be present when medication is administered, providing support and ensuring that medicine is administered correctly. All medicine provided to OSHC must have a chemist label, with instructions on how to administer the medication correctly, as well as expiry dates. No medication will be administered without a chemist’s label.

If you have any questions or concerns about your OSHC Service, you should get in contact with your OSHC Service Coordinator. If you are unable to speak to your Service Coordinator or don’t feel comfortable speaking to them about an issue, you can contact OSHC Management through our (02) 6331 8944 phone number, or you can email your concern or question through to oshc@centacarebathurst.com.au

Our policies and procedures are physically available in all of our services. We also have a QR Poster for our Policies and Procedures available at the front of all services on the notice board. New policies are shared to parents through HubHello through our messaging function, so families can read and reflect on changes, as well as provide feedback.