School Holiday Programs FAQs

Our schedule is full of exciting activities! You'll be able to view all activities on offer at your location around four weeks before the start of the school holidays. Select your location to view their schedule.

You can book a place through My Family Lounge (our online booking and enrolment system). Please note that bookings cannot be made by phone or email.

Find out more about how to enrol.

Yes! Our holiday programs are open to all primary school-aged children across Victoria, regardless of whether or not they are a student at that location.

We encourage families who may not attend the school to still book into the holiday program. It's a great way for children to develop their social skills and make new friends outside of their school friendship group, and our team will help your child to feel welcome and supported.

Yes, our School Holiday Programs qualify for the Federal Government's Child Care Subsidy (CCS). This may reduce your out of pocket fees if your family is eligible for CCS support and additional funding.

For more information on if you qualify or how to submit an application, read our guide to the Child Care Subsidy.

All payments for our School Holiday Programs are made by direct debit. Unfortunately, we do not accept cash or any payments at our sites.

Your payments will be direct debited from your nominated account in advance for your bookings in the upcoming fortnight. You'll receive your statement every fortnight on a Monday and the direct debit is processed on a Thursday – view our direct debit calendar.

You must ensure that your billing information is uploaded when you enrol, otherwise your bookings will be cancelled and your child will not be able to attend the program. If you need to check, please sign in to My Family Lounge and update your billing information.

Learn more about our payment processes.

The time your child needs to arrive by will depend on whether they are attending an in house activity, an incursion or an excursion.

• In house: Children remain on-site for a fun day of activities. Arrive by 9:00am.
• Incursion: An external provider visits us and undertakes an activity with the children at our site. Arrive by 9:00am.
• Excursion: A day outside of the service where we visit an exciting destination. Generally, you'll need to arrive by 8:30am. Some excursions may require an earlier arrival time – speak with the team on site for more information.

Late collection can be stressful for you and your child so please ensure you pick your child up on time.

If you're running late and can't collect your child by the end of the session / closing time, please call our coordinator to let them know. To find their phone number, select your location and scroll down to 'Contact details'. Rest easy, two of our holiday program educators will stay with your child until they are collected.

If you can't collect your child, please arrange for someone else to do so and notify the school holiday program service as soon as possible.

Please note that the names and contact numbers of all people authorised to collect your child must be included in your child’s enrolment record.

Any changes to these details must be updated in My Family Lounge or given to the service in writing. The person collecting your child will also need to provide photo ID such as a current driver's licence when they collect your child.

If your child isn't collected by the end of the session / closing time, a late fee of $2.00 per minute may be charged. If we haven't heard from you, we'll attempt to contact you by phone. If we can't reach you we'll try to contact your nominated emergency person (or people). If no contact has been made 30 to 45 minutes after closing time, the local police will be called.

You can find more information about this in our Delivery and Collection of Children procedure.

If your child is unwell and unable to attend a school holiday program, we ask that you notify the service.

Centrelink allocates 42 approved absence days of CCS per child per year. Absences over the 42 days will only receive CCS if you provide evidence of:

• an illness;
• an outbreak of infectious disease when your child is not immunised;
• medical certificates to show sickness of your child, a parent or sibling.

If you've exceeded your 42 days of approved absence, full fees will be charged to your account for any days that your child is absent.

No, meals are not included at our School Holiday Programs. We ask that you pack your child a healthy, nut-free lunch as well as a morning and afternoon snack and a water bottle.

On some days, there may be planned activity that involves making and / or eating delicious food. If so, this will be stated in the schedule.

We ask that your child brings the following items each day:

• A healthy, nut-free, morning tea and lunch
• Water bottle
• Some spare clothing (just in case)

Your child may need to bring additional items for specific activities. For example, your child would need to bring a helmet and safety gear for Bike and Scooter Day.

Please refer to the activity schedule for your school holiday program location to see if you need to bring any additional items.

To ensure your child feels comfortable and can engage in all activities, we ask that they wear:

• Comfortable clothing
• Closed shoes and socks
• Hat for sun protection (all year round)
• Warm clothing for cooler months
• Clothing that is suitable for art activities – leave the good clothes at home!

If your child has specific health care or medical needs, please let your school holiday program know in advance. Your OSHC Coordinator will advise you on the relevant documentation needed.

For any diagnosed health care and medical needs (such as anaphylaxis, allergies, asthma, diabetes and epilepsy) you are to required to bring:

• an in-date medical management plan signed by a doctor;
• medication in the original packaging, labelled with your child's full name and in date;
• completed YMCA Medical Authorisation (only if medication is required at the program);
• a risk assessment to support your child at the program.

We operate all of our services in line with government requirements for educator to child ratios. During excursions, this is 1:8.

We always have a minimum of two members of staff supervising at all times.

We always promote positive and respectful behaviour. If you have strategies in place that will help your child have a great day, please contact your OSHC Coordinator at least six weeks in advance. This will ensure we can create the best environment for your child and organise suitable resources to support them.