Legal requirements
The following information is important for school councils and OSHC subcommittees regardless of the operating model chosen.
1. Regulatory and legal frameworks: the National Quality Framework and Child Safe Standards
An outside school hours care (OSHC) service is an approved education and care service under the National Quality Framework (NQF).
The NQF was introduced in 2012 to improve education and care across long day care, family day care, preschool or kindergarten, and OSHC.
The NQF includes:
- the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 (National Law) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 (National
- the National Quality Standard
- an Assessment and rating
- Approved learning such as ‘My Time, Our Place’ and the ‘Victorian Early Learning and Development Framework'
- a regulatory authority in each state and territory responsible for the approval, monitoring and quality assessment of services in their state or territory. In Victoria this is the Quality Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD) of the Department of Education and Training. QARD has officers throughout Victoria that both monitor and support services with compliance and assess services prior to operation.
- a national body, the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), which guides the implementation of the NQF and works with regulatory authorities.
Assessment and rating process for OSHC
The NQF promotes high quality education, care services and outcomes for children through the NQS and assessment and rating process. This helps to ensure high quality, consistent services with an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.
The NQS includes 7 quality areas that are important outcomes for children. All education and care services under the NQF are assessed and rated against the NQS and given a rating for each of the 7 quality areas and an overall rating based on these results. Possible rating outcomes include the Exceeding NQS, Meeting NQS, Working Towards NQS and Significant Improvement required. Services that have been rated as Exceeding may also apply for the ‘Excellent’ rating through ACECQA. For more information, refer to the Department's Assessment and rating .
In Victoria, authorised officers from QARD, as the Regulatory Authority, undertake assessment and rating visits at education and care services.
Child Safe Standards
All early childhood services (including OSHC) and schools are required to comply with 11 Child Safe .
2. Educational requirements for high quality OSHC
The educational program within an OSHC service is a key component to the provision of a high quality OSHC service. The educational program of an OSHC service includes:
- all the activities that children participate in
- learning outcomes
- all physical spaces used by the children
- all of the routines and transitions
- the partnerships and collaborations with families, the school, colleagues and other professionals.
To ensure compliance, OSHC programs must be based on and delivered in accordance with an approved learning framework. The 2 approved learning frameworks for Victorian OSHC services are:
- My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age is a national framework used throughout Australia, including services in Victoria and
- Victorian Early Learning and Development for children from birth to 8 years, which is only used in Victoria.
It is most typical for OSHC services in Victoria to follow the My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age Care Framework.
The educational program must contribute to 5 learning and development outcomes shared by both My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age Care and the Victorian Early Learning and Development Framework, which are:
- children have a strong sense of identity
- children are connected with and contribute to their world
- children have a strong sense of wellbeing
- children are confident and involved learners
- children are effective communicators.
3. Legislated tasks prior to opening a service
The following tasks must be completed by the approved provider before providing OSHC services to children and their families. An understanding of third party tasks by school council (and OSHC subcommittee) will help in meeting the terms of the licence agreement and provision of high quality OSHC. Schools may wish to include these in a Memorandum of Understanding with the approved provider, if they have engaged a third party provider.
Develop a service quality improvement plan
The National Regulations require preparation of a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) for the service within 3 months of being granted service approval (r.55). The QIP helps a service self-assess performance in delivering high quality education and care and to plan future improvements.
It is important that educators, children, families and the community are all involved in the assessment and ongoing review of the QIP. The QIP must:
- include an assessment by the approved provider of the quality of the practices of the service against the NQS and the regulations
- identify any areas that the provider considers may require improvement
- contain a statement of the philosophy of the service.
Once developed, the QIP must be reviewed at least annually.
Notification systems for complaints, incidents and serious incidents
The National Law requires providers to notify QARD using the NQA ITS of certain incidents while a child or children are being educated or cared for by the service.
This includes any:
- incident where it is reasonably believed that physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while the child is being educated and cared for by the service
- allegation that sexual or physical abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while the child is being educated and cared for by the service
- complaint that alleges a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child is being educated and cared for by a service, or that the national law or national regulations have been contravened
- serious incident or emergency. An emergency is defined as an incident, situation or event where there is an imminent or severe risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of any person present at a service. A serious incident could be the death of a child, serious injury or trauma, attendance of emergency services, a missing child, child taken without authorisation, children mistakenly locked in or out of the service, any serious illness where a child attended or ought to have attended a hospital.
Visit the ACECQA website for more information on Child protection related reporting .
QARD maintains a range of fact and frequently asked questions, and helpful information in relation to legislation and regulatory frameworks.
Administrative notifications
Notifications of changes to persons with management or control
QARD must be notified by the approved provider of any change to persons with management or control of the OSHC service. Persons with management or control have higher managerial responsibilities than nominated supervisors and persons in day-to-day charge. In most school council managed services, the person with management or control is the principal. If this person changes, for example, if there is a change of principal or school council member or an extended absence, the regulatory authority must be notified.
Under the NQF, the approved provider and any persons with management or control, the nominated supervisors and any person nominated as being a responsible person, are responsible for the management and compliance of the service, in particular:
- providing an educational program that supports children’s play and leisure
- ensuring the supervision and safety of children
- monitoring entry to and exit from the service premises, ensuring that these comply with the service’s policies
- providing food and beverages
- administering medication
- providing opportunities for sleep and rest
- conducting excursions
- recruiting and supervising staffing.
In most OSHC services, day-to-day responsibility for these matters will fall to the nominated supervisor, but the person with management or control still bears responsibility under the National Law for ensuring these responsibilities are met.
Additionally, the approved provider must notify QARD of any changes to service contact details, proposed changes to the service (for example, location of rooms), changes to nominated supervisors, service closure. If the approved provider changes, the receiving (incoming) provider is responsible for notifying QARD of this.
Notifications must be made online
QARD must be notified by the provider of complaints, incidents and serious incidents through the National Quality Agenda IT . Log in to access the portal where you can select the incident or complaint type and enter the required information. Paper-based forms are no longer available.
Documents and record management
There are a number of records that are legally required to be kept by an approved provider.
QARD has developed to assist approved providers to meet their legislative requirements.
Prior to opening, a service must have systems in place to document and manage the following:
- incident, injury, trauma and illness record (r.87). In the event that a child is injured, becomes ill or suffers a trauma at your service, a record of the event must be kept.
- medical conditions (r.90). For each child with a diagnosed medical condition that has been notified by parents, the following must be in place — medical management plan developed by GP or specialist, risk minimisation plan developed in consultation with parents and communication plan so that all staff and parents know how to communicate any changes to medical management or risk minimisation plans.
- medication record (r.92). If a child is administered medication at the service, a record of the event must be kept.
- emergency and evacuation plan (r.97). The Department has developed a range of resources to assist education and care services in developing their emergency management plan (EMP) and where relevant, their bushfire-preparedness. The Department encourages all education and care services to use these resources and regularly review their EMP to ensure the ongoing safety of the service community. The template and related information can be found on the Department’s Emergency management web page. Note that the service needs its own plan and cannot just adopt a school's.
- Bushfire At-Risk services. All education and care services listed on the Department’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR) are required as a condition of their service approval to submit their EMP to their regional office. Further information can be found at the Bushfire At-Risk web page.
- attendance and enrolment records (r.158 to 162). Educators must be provided with instruments with which to gather and record child attendance and enrolment information.
- policies and procedures (r.168 and r.171). A copy of the service’s policies and procedures required under r.168 must be available and accessible at the service. Additional policies and procedures to support operational and service practice maybe developed.
- storage of records (r.183). Records and documents set out in r.177 must be stored safely and securely for a defined period of time. The period of time is dependent on the type of document or record, as outlined in the Operational Requirements, linked below. Lockable filing cabinets and other furniture may need to be purchased prior to opening. Records may also be digitally stored.
- law and regulations (r.185). A copy of the national law and national regulations must be accessible at your service premises at all times. In addition, the service should have available a copy of the approved learning framework used in the program.
- educational program information (r.75). Information about the contents and operation of the educational program must be displayed to parents.
- weekly menu (regulation 80). If food and beverages (other than water) are served, you need to display a weekly menu outlining what food and drinks you will be serving, in a place that parents can access.
ACECQA has regulations that outline a number of Operational that approved providers must meet.
Physical environment
Prior to the service opening, the environment must be appropriately set up to facilitate an OSHC service.
In addition to this requirement, certain prescribed information must be available and displayed clearly and at the service. The prescribed information can be found in:
Equipment and resources
- First aid kits (r.89). Suitably equipped first aid kits must be available and kept in accordance with r.89 of the national regulations. For information on deciding what items to include and procedures to keep kits current, refer to the guide to the National Law and National .
- Telephone or other communication equipment (r.98). The nominated supervisor and employees of the service must have access to an operating telephone or similar means of communication to enable immediate communication to and from parents or carers and emergency services.
- Furniture, materials and equipment (r.105). Each child being educated and cared for by the service must have access to safe and sufficient furniture, materials and developmentally appropriate equipment. Resources should be sufficient in variety and number and meet the range of interests, ages and abilities of all children, avoid overcrowding, ensuring children do not have to wait for long periods to participate and minimise disputes over resources, materials and equipment.
- Administrative space (r.111). Administrative space must be set up and stocked with necessary office supplies prior to opening.
Information that must be displayed at the service
Information about the (r.173) must be displayed so that it is clearly visible to anyone from the main entrance to the service premises.
Roles and responsibilities
An approved provider must ensure that a responsible person is present at a centre-based OSHC program at all times that the service is educating and caring for children. It is an offence to operate an education and care service without a responsible person present.
A responsible person is:
- the approved provider or a person with management or control
- a nominated supervisor
- a person in day-to-day charge of the service.
The names of each nominated supervisor and the person in day-to-day charge for each day must be displayed so that they are visible from the OSHC main entrance.
Educational leader
To support the provision of a high-quality education and care program, there must be an appointed educational . This person leads the development and implementation of the program and ensures the establishment of clear goals and expectations for teaching and learning.
An educational leader, should be:
- suitably qualified and experienced
- given paid time to plan, prepare and take further opportunities such as additional qualifications
- approachable and well respected
- knowledgeable about theories, pedagogy and the relevant learning frameworks
- skilled at supporting educators of varying abilities and learning styles
- knowledgeable about the national quality framework and related regulatory standards.
For more information, refer to the ACECQA information sheet The role of the educational .
National Quality Framework requirements for educational leaders
The educational leader role is part of Quality Area 7 – Governance and in the National Quality Standard (NQS). Standard 7.1 in the NQS requires that effective leadership promotes a positive organisational culture and builds a professional learning community. Further to this, element 7.1.4 requires that provision is made to ensure a suitably qualified and experienced educator or coordinator leads the development of the curriculum and ensures the establishment of clear goals and expectations for teaching and learning.
The legislation is not prescriptive about the qualifications and experience required by the appointed educational leader. This enables the approved provider to choose the person best suited to take on this role.
The educational leader contributes to the development of the program in partnership with children, families and all educators, ensuring that the program:
- is engaging
- meets the community's needs
- reflects the service philosophy.
During program development, consideration should be given to all planned and spontaneous aspects of the service including the activities, routines and experiences, as well as all the interactions that occur.
An educational program based on an approved learning framework must be prepared and ready to be delivered from the commencement of the service.
Reviewed 14 February 2024