Please note the time change to 12.00pm to 1.00pm

Building Collaborative Partnerships between OSHC Services and School Communities

“As Australia strives to ensure our early childhood education and care facilities and programs are exemplary, those who lead school age care programs have a tremendous responsibility to make their own service the very best it can be. One significant step in achieving a high quality service is to build strong relationships with the school or schools where the children attending the service are enrolled.

The pressure on schools to demonstrate improvement in student’s learning has never been greater than it is today. School staff can engage in a powerful alliance with school age care services to maximise the benefits and opportunities for children provided through participation in positive learning environments outside the classroom.” DEEWR (2012) My Time, Our Place: Promoting Collaborative Partnerships between School Age Care Services and Schools, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

This session will introduce the OSHC and Schools partnership analysis tool as a resource for establishing, developing and maintaining strategic and strong, mutually beneficial relationships. The tool has been informed by the NQS and strong evidence about what makes a partnership successful. Participants will be able to incorporate new ideas and strategies for strengthening school partnerships into their quality improvement plans.