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Postion Paper - OSHC Facility Postion Paper - SA & National Standards Postion Paper - A Middle Years Framework for OSHC Ideas to assist if you are employing staff SA OSHC Sector Response to RIS Support Inclusion Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children
COAG Statement 2nd July 2009 NOSHSA Report to Members July 09 Regulation Impact Statement Response August 2009
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OSHC Appreciation Day 2009 OSHC Awards History Celebrating with Colleagues

0SHC SA Celebrates

As Children’s Week was being officially launched, OSHC SA Association took time out for its OSHC Celebration for 2009. St Paul Lutheran School offered its facilities for the occasion and the ladies of the parish catered for the morning tea.

88 people attended and there were displays from several agencies including Electric Bug, Australian Museum of Childhood, Educational Experience, TAFESA, Novita, Rockin Rocky and Inclusive Directions. Special thanks to Electric Bug & Rockin Rocky for donations that were used as door prizes.

Chairperson, Kathy Strapp’s welcomed everyone and gave a brief over view of the Association’s achievements this year. It was great to hear the achievements of the group acknowledged.

Rockin Rocky entertained the group with a sample of the show he presents and this was followed by 2 guest speakers – David Wilksch and Julie Anne Moat. As principal at St Paul, David shared his OSHC experience and told how he saw the service as being an important component of the school’s pastoral care for its families and how SPLASH is fully integrated into the school’s life. Julie Anne shared her personal journey from baby sitting neighbourhood children while still at school to working in long day care, to OSHC and beyond. Throughout her journey her passion for children was the driving force and her story is confirmation that people can use their OSHC experience as a basis for career changes.

The presentation of the OSHC SA Awards for 2009 followed.

Kay Thomas began by inviting the Board members to come forward to receive a certificate in recognition of their service to the sector. The Board for 2009 includes: Kathy Strapps, Rose Denton, Mel Sweeney, Anna Marcioionni, Carol Black, Monique Azzopardi, Kay Thomas, Judy Jones, Sue Gillett, Lizzy Oppert, Jan Hutchison, Belinda Dickson, Sue Nicholls, Francine Schiller, Cherie Konec & Mandy Richardson.

Background to the awards; OSHCSA has a commitment to celebrating and the OSHC SA awards is one way in which we do this – it seemed apparent from the way in which the RSVPs have come in that most people were really chuffed about being part of the process.

Celebration is a way to make us feel good about our work and at the same time focuses us on what we are all here for – children!

The response to our call for nominations was great and we received 24 in total – a benchmark to outdo next year.

Kay expressed gratitude to the selection panelists - Rebecca Haynes from the DECS OSHC Team & Mel Sweeney from TAFE – both panelists were nominees in previous years. The nominations were strong and decisions were not made easily. The awards were presented in the following order – Category 3, Category 1 & finally Category 2

Category 3

Initiative Exemplar was a service award to recognise a particular initiative within the OSHC sector.

The nominees:

For Callington, Uraidla and Port Noarlunga, the stories were very similar – new leadership in the school, sad OSHC service in debt and struggling and in each case the story was of the combined effort and hard work that had been invested to turn the service around. In each situation the community needs for OSHC were recognised and there were remarkable team efforts to keep the service afloat.

There is a serious challenge here for someone to analyse and document the elements of success and documenting what these services have undertaken would be a good place to start.

After much deliberation Uraidla OSHC was chosen as the winner of this Category.

This was in recognition of the complexity of a service that had been established across 2 school sites – to rebuild they had first to alter the operational structure and this required sensitivity and support from other agencies as well as close collaboration with district staff.

Teen Zone is a unique service – for those of you who have not heard of it, it is a service operated by Novita for older children living with a disability and their siblings. The service has been operating for just a year and there are some excellent outcomes. The OSHC Association decided to make a special award to this service in acknowledgement of the sector’s support for this initiative. We trust that both levels of government will give serious consideration to other such initiatives in the future.

Category 1

The Directors Award and has been awarded for achievement and commitment to OSHC on all levels within the community. This award goes to an individual rather than the service.

The nominees:

“Congratulations to each director – the work that you do has been acknowledged publicly by this nomination, you can all stand tall and not only keep up the good work but think of ways in which you can continue to develop new ideas and share your good news with others. You have become a role model for others.”

In this Category the panel simply could not separate 2 nominations. Both were exceptional and it was apparent that in each case the director makes an enormous contribution to the communities. Hopefully both of these people might give the Association approval to share some of their initiatives with the whole sector.

Congratulations to Alicia Flowers from Rose Park & Laurette Wadell Smith from Tumby Bay as joint winners.

Laurette has been at Tumby Bay OSHC for some 14 years. It is a small service, isolated from other services by distance. In such a community there are restricted opportunities for excursions and access to resources is limited. The service frequently caters for children with additional needs and the inclusion practices are exceptional. Two notable examples of practice at Tumby Bay are (1) the inclusion of OSHC children’s work in local shows where they frequently win prizes and (2) the now traditional OSHC Halloween Party which has become an annual community event. Finally the endorsement of the families who use the service with letters and photos was quite moving.

Alicia has been at Rose Park for 6 years – there was a very strong and detailed nomination. There was a strong element of rebuilding featured in this nomination as the service was carrying a substantial operating loss when Alicia began working at Rose Park. Through effective and efficient management this has been turned around and there is a strong and cohesive staff team. The service has developed a recipe book and the children now design and produce a vacation care magazine without adult leadership. Growing vegetables has also been a feature in the past. 6 years ago the service struggled and it is now a vibrant and important part of the school that is truly valued by the community and the school council.

Category 2

Is a service award and recognises a total commitment to OSHC by its operator, its staff and the school community it serves.

In this category the panel looked for a clear indication of that holistic level of commitment. There were some great ideas presented to the panel and again the decision was a difficult one.

The nominees:

From the nominations received it was clear that the winner was a service that is fully integrated into its school community. Program initiatives of the school carry over into OSHC, e.g. the peace program. The OSHC Director works in another capacity in the school and mentors and oversees the OSHC staff members who have the daily contact role with children. She maintains the administrative oversight of the service while actively empowering others to take new responsibilities. The service does not have a long history and is located in a complex community. The director has built the service up from its inception and has always been very willing to share experiences, resources and ideas with others along the way. She has been eager to learn and has willingly sought professional support as needed.

Congratulations to the winner - Northfield OSHC.