Governing Bodies For OHSC
Who sets the standards for Children's services?
Out of School Hours services fall under the same regulations as early childhood (the same as creches, kindergartens etc). We are not governed by the same laws as the school, so you may find how we manage the service a little different to school
ACEQA
The Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, set the laws and standards
for children's services nationally. Their web site is www.acecqa.gov.au.
They set the minimum standards for St Kevin's OHSC, are responsible for licensing us and
for "rating" the service. Ratings are new for children's services, and all services are
progressively being assessed.
At this stage, St Kevin's OHSC has NOT YET BEEN ASSESSED, but will be in the near future.
The assessment rating is displayed at the centre.
Below are copies of the National Education and Care Services National Regulations and the Act. Feel free to down load these and keep them. They are also available at the ACEQA web site. Manual copies are available at OHSC.
DEECD
The Department of Education and Early Childhood are the Victorian government department responsible for implementing and monitoring each service in Victoria. They will visit our service, randomly to ensure we are meeting all the regulations. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/
Our Standards
The Committee also set our own standards. In some instances, we choose to set them higher than ACEQA. For example we set the educator to children ratios higher than the requirement specified. The standard ratio specified is 1:15 (being educator to children). We have set a ratio of 1:8 (educator to children).
Department of Education (Federal)
The federal Department of Education (previously called DEEWR) provide financial support for families using child care services and to organisations who run these services.
St. Kevin's OHSC is a registered child care provider, this means our fees can be reduced by applying the child care rebate and the child care benefit's provided by the Federal government. The Deparment of Education governs child care providers to ensure they comply with the laws around providing assistance. For more information please visit http://education.gov.au/
Licensing
St Kevins OHSC is a fully licensed children's service, under National Education and Care Regulations.
Service Approval
There are several levels of licenses. Firstly the venue needs to be licensed to ensure it is an appropriate venue for
children.
This is called a SERVICE APPROVAL. Our service approval is on display at the centre but can also be found here.
Provider Approval
The next level is the PROVIDER APPROVAL. This is the person who is responsible for providing the children's service.
This is the St Kevin's school principal. Once again our provider approval is on display at the centre but can also be
found here.
Nominated Supervisor and Supervisor Certificates
The nominate supervisor is the person who has been charged with the responsibility of the children while they are being cared for at the service. This is our senior educator.
When the Nominated Supervisor is not working then the role is delegated to a supervisor. A supervisor must hold a supervistor certificate. This is an approval under the national law, to ensure the person caring for the children is qualified. All our educators hold supervisor certificates and are able to care for the children.
