F.A.Q.

We aim to meet the needs of the parents in our local community who either work, study or have other commitments, by operating on days and hours that allow them to reasonably get to and from their work or place of study.

The centre will operate during government school terms, Monday to Friday, between the hours of:

• Mornings: 7:00am – 9:00am – Children depart the Centre at 8:40am where they are supervised by teachers on duty
• Afternoons: 2:00pm-6:30pm – Children arrive at the Centre at 3:10pm
• Should children be present after the closing time, a late fee will apply:
  1. From 6:30pm – 6:45pm late fee is $15 per child
  2. From 6:45pm – 7:00 late fee is $2 per minute per child
  3. From 7:00pm onwards pay 2 staff wages per hour.

The Centre will operate between the hours of 7:00am – 6:3pm during school holidays.

You must inform centre staff if someone other than yourself or the emergency contacts are picking up your child, it must be in writing either by hand or via-email. Photo ID is also required if the person is unknown to the centre.

Annual family enrolment fee $60 (covers insurance – must be paid by all families; even if joining part way through the year).  A one-off bond payment of $100 is required per family before your child attends the centre. Your bond carries over each year and will be refunded or deducted from the final bill issued before you leave the centre.

• Before School Care permanent bookings: $17.00
• Before School Care Casual Bookings: $19.00
• After School Care permanent bookings: $27.00
• After School Care Casual bookings: $31.00

• Phone Fee: For non-attendance notification/ non sign in/ out correctly: $10
• Late Fee: $50 for the first 15 minutes than $10 per 5 minutes after that.
• Extra-Curricular Activity Fee: $5 per child per activity within the school ground, $10 per child per activity outside the school grounds.

Vacation care: Cost varies per session – will be confirmed prior to each holiday. Base fee: $75 per day

The fees quoted do not include discounts provided by the government through the Child Care Subsidy. To claim CCS, obtain and complete a form available from Centrelink or the Family Assistance Office.

Fees will be paid in arrears via Direct Debit with the payment frequency options being weekly, fortnightly, 4 weekly or monthly. Invoice statements will be issued on a Tuesday with the payment being deducted on the Friday of the same week.

The centre is run by a volunteer parent committee that meets every term throughout the year to discuss issues relating to the running of the centre. Each year a committee is elected at the annual general meeting, all parents are encouraged to help in any way they can.

The enrolment processs commences in Term 4 of every yeaar. Bookings from one year do not roll into the next and any families who require care going into a New Year are required to reenrol. In order to enrol for a New Year, families will go through the QKenrol system. For an enrolment to be accepted, the family needs to complete the online enrolment process that can be accessed via the available link and have provided their direct Debit Forms.

In order to change your permanently booked days you must edit your current bookings via the QKenrol system. If you would like to reduce days, please request a new booking.

To make a casual booking, families will use the MyFamilyLounge app. When you enter the app, by selecting the ‘Casual Booking’ option to elect the appropriate year group and then view available days .

In order to book in a casual booking, the position must be available. Available days will appear as green. If a casual booking is available, you are able to select the day and create the booking. If the day is red, there are no vacancies for the day. Once you have booked the casual position, the day will turn purple, indicating that the booking has been successful.

To mark your child as absent from a booking please use MyFamilyLounge app. When you enter the app, by selecting the ‘Casual Booking’ option from the drop-down menu, you will be presented with the option to select the appropriate year group to then view the booked sessions.

In order to mark your child as absent for a session, please select the booked session in which the child will not be in attendance. The session will be coloured blue (permanent booking ) or purple (casual booking). Once selected , you will be able to absent the booking, turning the booking to orange.

Yes, you will be charged for any booking that you have requested. In the instance that a child is unwell and unable to attend a session, the Centre will only cancel the charge if a Medical Certificate can be provided. Additionally, if the child is to be of attendance to a school arranged event, on the basis that the Centre is notified, fees will be waived.

If you mark your child as absent for a previously booked session, you open this availability up to other families. If by doing so, the session becomes fully booked you will not be able to rebook the position. However, if there are vacancies you will be able to rebook  by contacting the Centre.

Unfortunately, there is no possible way to forecast the time in which a families will be on the waitlist . If sessions are fully booked, the only way positions will become available, is via cancellations.

When places are in high demand, we are limited by our licence as to the number of children we can accept. This licence is determined by the Department based on the amount of indoor and outdoor space available for each child & is not within the control of the Centre.

When there are insufficient places to meet demand, we are required to apply the “Priority of Access” to ensure that the places available are given to those most in need, as determined by the Department if Education & Training . The application of the Priority of Access results ins some families, both existing and new families, being placed on the waiting list for care.

In order to address this, we have met with Maree Sumpton and are working with the school to try and find additional spaces which can be allocated to the Centre. Maree has kindly allocated us some additional space in for After School Care which has now allowed us to clear the Before School Care waiting list but After School Care is more challenging due to license restrictions.

Please be assured that we are actively working with the school to accommodate for all family’s various needs.

You will not receive an email confirmation of your bookings. If you have received, accepted and confirmed your offer, this will mean that you’re the confirmed bookings have been established.

Changes to permanent bookings require 2 weeks notice.

Our menu aims to follow the Australian National Food Guidelines to ensure that children are offered the highest quality of nutritionally valuable foods.

We offer breakfast from 7:00am – 8:20 each morning. We also provide afternoon tea and a late snack after 5:00pm. During Vacation Care we provide Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a small late snack. On excursion days, we DO NOT provide morning tea or lunch, this is to be provided by the parent / caregivers.

Due to the severity of food allergies, HNCCA is a NUT FREE environment. We ask that you please do not provide your child with any form of nuts to prevent an incident occurring. If a child is found with food containing nuts they will be asked to leave the food in their bag.

The Centre aims to meet the needs of individual children’s dietary requirements, please advise the Centre on the registration form of any dietary requirements. If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Educational Leaders are responsible for the creation , implementation and evaluation of the Centre’s activity program. The Centre utilizes a split approach of programming, with a K-2 and 3-6 program in order to ensure that the needs of different age groups are met. The separate programs engage the children in a broad range of activities inclusive of themes of science, arts, crafts, cooking, sports and games to ensure the children are consistently stimulated whilst in the Centre’s care. The Centre commences actives.

Our Service will ensure that children who need to go to an activity within the school grounds or at Rofe Park arrive and leave their activity in a manner that safeguards their health, safety and wellbeing. Educators will manage this by adhering to clear procedures regarding the delivery and collection of children. Ensuring that families understand their requirements, responsibilities in accounting for the whereabouts of children at all times whilst in the service’s care. Parents are required to fill out an activity sheet stating the name of activity, where the activity is in the school, the starting time and finish time of the activity. One Educator each afternoon will be responsible for the activity list. They will wear a yellow safety vest to make it easy for children and parents to identify the Educator in charge of the activities. Parents must notify the staff via e-mail if their child/children’s activity is cancelled or details alter.

The Centre employs a Kindergarten pick up procedure to ensure that all kindergarten children that are booked into the Centre’s care are safely escorted to the Centre. By doing this, the Centre supports a safe introduction to school life for our Kindergartens and ensures peace of mind for our kindergarten parents.