OSHC

OSHC has changed

Menzies Creek has proudly operated our own OSHC service for many years. We realise the important role this plays for our children and our community. However, this has become an increasingly onerous task:

• higher staff turnover has required significant time in recruiting and training new staff, often at short notice
• Policies and standards increase each year, which can be challenging to for our volunteer OSHC sub-committee keep across
• Our smaller size means that our principal sometimes needs to cover OSHC from 7am in the morning when staff are unwell

With Tanya’s retirement, and Kelly Verwey (who has tirelessly helped OSHC on school council for 10 years) finishing up in 2020, School council has determined that the current approach is not sustainable. The only viable option is to bring in an external provider to keep the program running. This is in line with most schools in the Hills who already outsource this service. Kelly and Tanya have investigated several options and we have selected Theircare as our OSHC provider starting in 2020. We do acknowledge that this will increase the costs for our families, and this has been a key consideration in the selection process. Many families are eligible for rebates, and these will also increase to offset some of the cost. Key benefits of the new service are as follows:

• Our new principal can focus their time on getting up to speed with their core role
• All policies and standards will be managed by the service
• The service has a pool of staff who they can draw upon to cover any absences
• Bookings and enrolments can all be handled online
• The service will be able to offer OSHC on curriculum days, and could possibly provide a holiday program in the future
• The service will provide some financial benefit to the school, which can be invested in our programs and facilities