Outside School Hours Care – Decision Making Regarding the Provision of OSHC

Plan to start a service – school council managed service

The planning and preparation needed to set up a school council managed service includes the following steps:

1. apply to set up a service (required approvals)
2. prepare your venue (venue regulations and food and drink requirements)
3. start your service.

1. Apply to set up a service

As a school council you must have the required approvals to legally operate your outside school hours care service.

Before applying to set up a service

In order to commence trading as a service, the following are generally required:

• An Australian business number (ABN) and business name. Information regarding ABNs and business names is available from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
• Official school council bank account. An OSHC service must operate from within an official school council bank account and meet the same financial management obligations of any other program in the school. These obligations are outlined in the Finance Manual for Victorian government schools.
• Postal address. An OSHC service should have a physical mailing address to receive correspondence. If needed, applications for a post office box can be made at Australia Post.
• Email address. An OSHC service should have an email address or use the school’s generic email address, to ensure the department can contact the OSHC directly
• connected utilities. School council will need to confirm and (or) connect the utilities required for the OSHC service, such as electricity and water.
• Insurance. OSHC services may require some additional cover outside the school’s existing coverage with the VMIA. For questions about insurance, schools may contact Michael Roleff on Michael.Roleff@education.vic.gov.au
  The following may require additional cover:
  • building insurance – school buildings are covered as long as they are within the school’s entitlement
  • contents – a school’s contents are covered if they are not excluded under the School Equipment Coverage Scheme (SECS)
  • workers’ compensation – for any locally employed staff, such as for OSHC employees.

Prior to starting the service, the school should also determine how much involvement the school administration and support staff will have in supporting the service.

Provider and service approval

To operate a service, the school council will need to apply for:

• provider approval, and
• service approval.

These approvals are granted by the Quality of Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD), who are the Regulatory Authority for children’s services in Victoria. They are granted under the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 (National Law). A provider may hold more than one service approval, but service approval is specific to the site on which the service will operate.

You must apply for both provider and service approval online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). In order to lodge an application, you will need to register for an NQA ITS account, which is used to lodge approval applications and provide supporting documents and is also used to lodge information to QARD once the service is operating.

Both provider and service approval applications may be submitted at the same time and QARD will work through them together.

Refer to information on the regulation and quality assessment of OSHC.

Information for provider approval

To apply for provider approval, you will need to submit form PA01 through the NQA ITS portal, and provide the following key pieces of information about the school council:

• the correct name of the school council (this should be in the form '<name of school> Council', not '<name of school> OSHC service' or similar)
• the name of the person who will be in management or control (the school principal)
• documents evidencing that person’s fitness and propriety:
  • Form PA02 – Declaration of Fitness and Propriety – print out, complete and sign, scan and upload
  • Working With Children Clearance or VIT Registration
  • a criminal history record check dated within the last 6 months
  • photo ID such as a driver licence or passport.

Information for service approval

To apply for OSHC service approval, you will need to submit form SA01 through the NQA ITS portal, and provide the following key operational information:

• proposed days and hours of operation
• proposed maximum number of children attending the service
• age of children attending the service (school age or inclusive of preschool ages)
• plans/maps of the indoor and outdoor space along with measurements (in square metres) available for OSHC use
• a soil assessment or evidence that one has previously been undertaken, or a statement from the person with management or control stating that the service is not likely to pose a risk to children’s safety
• a copy of the OSHC service’s policies and procedures as required by the National Regulations (note: these are not the same as the policies used for the school itself, but as much as possible, they should align with the school policies)
• evidence of the written consent of the service’s Nominated Supervisor (see below).

Your school’s indoor space can be identified via your school’s School Asset Management System (SAMS) plan and cleaning schedule. Your school principal can access the SAMS plan via the School Facilities Profile website – accessed via logging in to the department’s intranet.

This information should have been identified by the needs analysis survey and confirmed by your school council, in its decision to establish a service. When completing the application, your school council must be aware of the implications of this operational information on:

• budget
• eligibility for Commonwealth funding
• meeting regulatory requirements such as educator to child ratios.

Timing of approvals

Applicants need to allow for plenty of time for the application process. Provider approval can take up to 60 days from the date of a complete application being received by the QARD, and a service approval can take up to 90 days.

Nominated supervisors

Approved providers must advise the department of at least one nominated supervisor per service. A nominated supervisor must:

• be 18 years or older
• have adequate knowledge and understanding about providing education and care to children
• have an ability to effectively supervise and manage an education and care service
• have completed child protection training.

Approved providers are responsible for determining if a person is suitable to be a nominated supervisor, before nominating the person. As an approved provider, you must not nominate or engage a person as a nominated supervisor, if you know or could reasonably have known, that the person was prohibited from being nominated under the National Law.

In deciding if a person is suitable to be a nominated supervisor, you must consider:

• the person’s history of compliance with the National Law and other relevant laws
• any decision under the law to refuse, suspend, refuse to renew or cancel a licence, approval, registration, certification or other authorisation granted to the person under the National Law and other relevant laws.

Further, you should consider the person’s qualifications, skills and work experience in determining if the person has adequate knowledge and understanding of the provision of education and care of children and supervision and management abilities.

Reasonable steps to ensure you do not nominate or engage a prohibited person include:

• reviewing the candidate’s references, including previous employers
• when undertaking reference checks, asking each referee if they are aware of any compliance action under the National Law or any other law in relation to the candidate, and keeping referee responses on file
• asking the candidate to complete and sign a declaration stating they are not prohibited that is then kept on file. ACECQA provide a prohibition notice declaration template.

If after taking reasonable steps, you are still concerned about the candidate’s compliance history, you may contact the QARD (licensed.childrens.services@education.vic.gov.au) and enquire if the person is subject to a prohibition notice in any state or territory.

If you become aware of a matter or an incident which affects the ability of the nominated supervisor to meet the minimum requirements, you must consider if it is appropriate to remove them as nominated supervisor. For example, if you become aware that the nominated supervisor has had compliance action against them, you must reassess if that person is suitable to be in the position.

You can ask potential nominated persons to complete and sign a compliance history statement template and then keep it on file. The template is not mandatory but can help make informed decisions about a person’s suitability to be the nominated supervisor or to be placed in day-to-day charge of the service.

You must provide QARD with the written consent of any individuals appointed as a nominated supervisor, both when applying for service approval, and if the nominee changes at any time. This can be included in your application for service approval or by submitting a nominated supervisor consent form to amend this as an attachment to a notification, if the change occurs after the service is approved.

A school that is applying for service approval and has not yet appointed an individual to be the Nominated Supervisor may nominate the principal at first, and change this prior to the service operating.

2. Prepare your venue

When setting up your service, you must comply with several regulations around venue and food and drink requirements.

School council managed OSHC services operate in school-funded facilities, which usually involve the existing buildings and grounds on a school site.

Policies available that may provide information on venue preparation and compliance include:

• Accessible Buildings Program
• School-Funded Capital Projects
• Shade Sails.

Your school council must ensure your venue complies with:

• the Building Code of Australia
• Food Safety Standards (for kitchen and food preparation areas being used by the service). You should contact your local council (LGA) to see if there are any specific requirements or any approvals are required.
• other Australian standards as relevant (for example, those relating to pool safety, playground equipment, indoor equipment and furniture, or disability)
• Ministerial directions
• the Building Quality Standards Handbook.

Food and drink at the service

You must decide if you will supply food at your service or require families to supply food from home:

• Before and after school services usually supply food, so that children have breakfast or afternoon tea upon arrival at each session.
• Vacation care services tend to require that families supply all food for children to eat (other than food prepared during cooking activities).

The availability of kitchen facilities at a venue may influence whether you provide food at your service.

Whether or not the service provides food, your service must have practices and procedures in place about the safe handling, preparation, consumption and service of food (r.90). These may include:

• clear communication to parents about suitable foods to bring into the service
• clear signage at the service so that staff know which children have allergies
• inclusive menus that meet the needs of all children (as far as possible).

You are responsible for ensuring that your staff implement safe food storage and handling practices [r.77(1)(b)], including following your school’s policy.

You must also provide safe drinking water for children at all times of service operation. You must also offer food and drink on a regular basis – whether supplied by the service or from the child’s home (r.78). If your service decides to supply food and drinks, these must be:

• nutritious
• in adequate quantity
• take into account the child’s growth and developmental needs and cultural, religious and health requirements (r.79).

An accurate weekly menu must also be displayed (r.80).

Before your service can operate, your school council should also ensure that any of its employees are:

• properly inducted to the school premises, through Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Induction and Training
• aware of your school’s Emergency and Critical Incident Management Planning and Emergency Management Plan requirements.

3. Start your service

In a school council managed service, responsibility for the operation and compliance of the service rests with the school council as the approved provider.

The most important steps to be taken once the service is approved and has children in care is to make sure that the physical environment meets requirements and that the right people are in attendance at the service

Responsible persons on duty

As an approved provider, you must ensure that a responsible person is present at a centre-based service at all times that the service is educating and caring for children.

A responsible person can be:

• the approved provider or a person with management or control themselves
• a nominated supervisor
• a person in day-to-day charge of the service.

Persons in day-to-day charge of a service

If the approved provider or nominated supervisor is not in attendance at the service, the approved provider or nominated supervisor must appoint a person in day-to-day charge of the service in their absence. The person must give written consent.

Appointing a person in day-to-day charge enables you to have a responsible person at the centre-based service at all times the service is educating and caring for children. Being in day-to-day charge of a service does not place any additional legal responsibilities under the National Law. The responsibilities relevant to educators under the National Law continue to apply. A person in day-to-day charge must:

• be 18 years or older
• have adequate knowledge and understanding of the provision of education and care to children
• have an ability to effectively manage and supervise an education and care service.

In appointing a person in day-to-day charge, you or the nominated supervisor must have regard to:

• the person’s history of compliance with the National Law and other relevant laws
• any decision under the law to refuse, suspend, refuse to renew or cancel a licence, approval, registration, certification or other authorisation granted to the person under the National Law and other relevant laws.

For information about employing staff, refer to School Council Employment.

Further information about set up tasks is included in the Legal requirements chapter of this guidance.