Information for schools with Outside School Hours Care
As part of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reform agenda, the National Quality Framework for early childhood and OSHC services will apply from January 2012.
A new national body, the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) will oversee the implementation of the framework, with administration of the regulation being undertaken by the NSW Government. The regulatory authority for all OHSC providers in NSW is the NSW Department of Education & Communities.
Services operating in 2011 were required to be registered with Community Services. As part of the transition to the National Quality Framework, OSHC services that were operational prior to 1 January 2012 are deemed to have to hold a service approval under the new the Educational and Care services National Law Act 2010 for the period of 1 January to 30 June 2012 during which time an application for service approval must be lodged.
Given the large number of OHSC applications the Department of Education and Communities will be inviting applications and processing them in stages between February 2011 and September 2012 according to the geographical region in which the service is located. Relevant information sheets are accessible from this webpage and with further NSW specific information is accessible by following the link to the NSW Department of Education and Communities website.
Approval to operate an OSHC service from 2012 will involve the use of an assessment and ratings instrument against the quality areas in the National Quality Standard.
There are seven quality areas in the National Quality Standard:
- Educational program and practice
- Children’s health and safety
- Physical environment
- Staffing arrangements
- Relationships with children
- Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
- Leadership and service management
The Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Act 2010 was passed by the NSW Government. This Act covers:
- Approval for providers of education and care services
- Assessment and rating systems
- Offences, obligations and compliance
- Review processes
- Roles of MCEECDYA, ACECQA and the NSW regulatory authority
- Records & privacy
- Transitional arrangements
Under the new processes all early childhood education and care services will be assessed and given a rating against the seven quality areas, and an overall rating, against the National Quality Standard. These ratings will be published to provide parents and the community more information about individual services.
The National Law and National Regulations require a service to provide an educational program that is based on an approved learning framework. The educational program and practice for OSHC services must be based on and delivered in accordance with My Time, Our Place - Framework for School Age Care in Australia - a copy can be accessed from Relevant Documents on the right hand side of this page.
Relevance to independent schools
Independent schools providing OSHC services or contracting with a provider for OSHC will need to engage with the framework, standards, quality areas and assessment and rating instrument to ensure the service is fully compliant with government requirements.
The AIS is actively working with NSW Department of Education and Communities on the implementation of the National Quality Framework in NSW and can provide general advice for independent schools in relation to the introduction of the National Quality Framework for OSHC services.
For more information about the requirements relating to OSHC services please contact Robyn Yates, Director: Government Education Policy at the AIS on (02) 9299 2845.