Charlotte Varcoe
PARENTS may have better access to Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) with McDonald Park Primary School putting forward an expression of interest in opening one at their site.
The State Government recently announced it would be accepting expressions of interest for further OSHC care services across regional areas, with Mount Gambier/Berrin being one of many key areas.
Currently there are only two OSHC sites in Mount Gambier/Berrin.
The primary school announced it had put in an expression of interest to utilise a multipurpose room to provide out of school care for students in the area.
McDonald Park Primary School deputy principal Sharon Day said the idea for an OSHC came to their attention after speaking with incoming reception student’s families.
“We have put in an application with the Department for Education to have OSHC here onsite and we are hopeful our application will be approved to start early 2024,” Ms Day said.
“This began when our incoming reception students’ families indicated a really strong need for after school care.”
She said the school then investigated whether having OSHC would benefit families during term one which included a survey to the parenting community of the school and the kindergarten.
“We discovered it was even bigger than we realised,” Ms Day said.
“We have a lot of students using the current OSHC service but they either have to bus there before and after school or have a private bus sent to pick them up.”
She said a lot of students also go to vacation care at the current OSHC service yet often parents miss out due to it being booked out.
“Parents were really excited about the prospect of having OSHC on this site so their children would not have to leave and there would also be more space for vacation care,” Ms Day said.
“There are parents who use up all their annual leave to look after their children during the holidays, whereas if we had vacation care available they would not have to do that.”
She said having an expression of interest open for more schools to host OSHC was needed due to the school timetable “not matching with work hours”.
“Many families have double working parents who need somewhere safe for their children so they can work,” Ms Day said.
“I am really glad the education department has responded and is putting things in place now so people can use the public education system and have kids cared for.”
Current YMCA OSHC director Kelly Griffin said the current care system allows for children to come and experience a play-based learning structure.
Ms Griffin said the OSHC service still had availability for before and after school care but was always fully booked for vacation care.
“For vacation care we are fully booked and generally it is the most popular time for us,” she said.
“We are really lucky there are so many schools that come to the same place so the children are building those friendships within the community rather than just the school-based friendships.”
Ms Griffin said OSHC also allowed for more social skills and noted there had been more young children using the service.
“We are seeing a lot more younger kids than older kids come through so where we used to have foosball tables and pool tables for the older children we are now having more of that child-care based activities like sensory toys,” she said.
“We run a fantastic service and I don’t think there is a huge gap apart from vacation care, there is not a huge cry for more here but we will still accept people before and after school if they have the means to get here.”
Ms Griffin said having more OSHC centres open would be a huge benefit for schools, parents and children.
