Vacation care for children finishing preschool

This is the time of year when you’ll no doubt be getting enquiries from families who want to send their young children to vacation care before they start primary school next year.

Here’s what you need to know about staffing and regulatory compliance during December and January.

The NSW Department of Education states the following:

Determining the age of children at OSHC The Education and Care Services National Regulations define a ‘child preschool age or under’ as a child who is under the age of 7 years and is not enrolled or registered at school, nor attending or due to attend school in the current calendar year (Regulation 4). If a child attends vacation care in December and is enrolled to attend school in the following year, they are considered to be of ‘preschool age or under’.

If a child attends vacation care in January of the same calendar year they will attend school, they meet the definition of ‘over preschool age’.

This means that during December, the Vacation Care service will need to provide adequate staffing and supervision that aligns with the preschool requirements in the Regulations.

From January, these same children are considered school aged and are no longer subject to the preschool requirements.