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School governing councils decide who will provide their OSHC service.
The governing council can be the approved provider or the council can engage a third party provider to be the approved provider.
OSHC services must be viable and able to meet the requirements of the:
- Education and Early Childhood Services National Law Act 2010
- South Australian Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011
- subordinate legislative instruments of the above Acts (the National Law).
1. School governing council meets to discuss who will provide the service
Before you look at the options, you’ll need to:
- establish a steering committee
- conduct a sample needs survey (Word 234KB) and a vacation care needs survey (Word 217KB) to determine the need for school age care in the community
- collate the results of the survey for the OSHC steering committee to analyse and report the findings to the school governing council.
OSHC services should be available to school-aged children if it's decided that a service is viable.
If survey results show that the service is too small to be viable and sustainable, the principal and the school governing council may negotiate with local providers of OSHC services.
Negotiations should be undertaken in collaboration with the department. Schools should, where possible, facilitate access to OSHC services operated near their school.
Schools should advise families of the range of alternative school-age care options that might be able to meet the need for care within the community, such as:
- multi-site services
- outreaches off-site services
- family day care or rural care.
2. Endorsement
The school governing council will need to endorse the decision for the school governing council to be the approved provider, or to engage a third party provider.
The school governing council will need to inform the OSHC unit about their decision on who will deliver the service. They will need to provide a copy of the minutes of the school governing council meeting endorsing their decision.
Endorsement must be sought from the site education director and sent to the OSHC unit. This can be an email from the education director to the principal or governing council chairperson.
3. Facilities
The physical location of where to operate the OSHC service will need to be determined. Facilities need to meet the Education and Care Services National Regulations. Refer to the Education and Standards Board's fact sheets on physical environment.
Hiring fees for facilities used for the provision of OSHC services must not be charged to not for profit organisations including school governing councils.
Out of pocket expenses may be charged to the OSHC service. Out of pocket expenses are defined as an additional, identifiable, direct outlay by the school, including the provision of materials, equipment and supplies attributable to the provision of OSHC.
