October Vacation Care Bookings Open

Attending Vacation Care is now easier!!!!!!

We have a NEW and faster BOOKING PROCESS and it is now live via our website www.ktoosh.com.au.  Simply click on the My Family Lounge logo on the home page and book from their.  If you do not already have a registration for My Family Lounge then click on register now to create one.

No more emails and no waiting confirmations.  It will be instant if there is availability, simple and easy just visiting www.ktoosh.com.au

If you are a currently enrolled KT OOSH family make sure you book in prior to the closure dates listed on each program to gain the Early Bird Rates.  Click here to view Oct 2019 Vacation Care Programs:

Rouse Hill Anglican College:  

RHAC Oct 2019 VC Program

Ironbark Ridge Public School:  

IRPS Oct 2019 VC Program

Vacation Care Hours: Strictly 7:00am – 6:00pm with late fees accruing after 6:00pm.  If you are running late then please have the courtesy to contact the centre directly to ensure a staff member is able to stay after 6:00pm as this is not always possible.  Late fees apply at a rate of $15/five minute increments/child + a $7.50 non notification fee if the centre is not advised if your child/ren are absent for a confirmed/booked day.

RHAC: 0434 584 881 OR IRPS: 0428 021 652

Electronic Devises: Due to responses from our recent survey, privacy concerns and the concerns of children’s channels being hacked, all electronic devices including DS, smart phones, iPads etc will not be allowed at the centre for Vacation Care with the exception of Bike/Device Day Wed 2nd October.

Bookings:

There is no changing, swapping or cancelling of days once booked so please make sure you check your dates.

In addition a lot of time and planning goes into Vacation Care and therefore last minute requests cannot always be accommodated due to mandatory staffing ratios, logistics or supply issues.

Breakfast: During Staff Development/Vacation Care Periods Breakfast is from 7:00am – 8:00am with morning tea at approximately 9:30am.

Children’s Daily Requirements: HATS, CLOSED in SHOES & Socks, JUMPER, DRINK BOTTLE & a Back Pack/Bag.  During the Holiday Period Electronics WILL NOT be allowed except for Wed 2nd October 2019.

Assessment & Rating Process

We have been advised that over the coming weeks that we will be receiving a visit from our Regulatory Authority who will be conducting an Assessment & Rating.

The assessment and rating process allows us the chance to show how well we compare to the benchmarks set by the National Quality Standard.

During the visit they will get all the evidence needed to assess and rate our centre.

This includes:

  • observing – what children, families, educators, co-ordinators are doing
  • discussing – why and how certain practices happen at the service with educators and staff
  • sighting – the documents that are in place to support the practices at your service required by the National Law and National Regulations

After the visit we will receive a draft assessment and rating report. This includes:

  • an overall rating
  • ratings for each individual quality area
  • information about any elements of the NQS that were not met
  • any non-compliances with the National Law or National Regulations
  • improvement notes

You can find our current Assessment and Rating in our Sign in Area.  We are really looking forward to this process which will give us some valuable feedback of where we can improve our service for the community.

If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with any of the Educators at the centre or email them to feedback@ktoosh.com.au.

 

IRPS Vacation Care Survey + April VC 2019

Surveys were sent out via Survey Monkey at the beginning of the year to gain your feedback on how your child/ren enjoyed their time at the Dec/Jan Vacation Care, as well as to gauge your interest and feedback on what you would like to see in our upcoming program for April 2019.

Thank you to all of those families who returned their Survey to us.  If you haven’t already though it would be great to make the decisions of planning based on general consensus from our Community for future Vacation Cares.

Our Vacation Care program is on our website www.ktoosh.com.au for the April 2019 VC period. Email in your requested days to irps@ktoosh.com.au by the close off date stated on the program to gain the cheaper Early Bird Rate which is only 1 week away.

 

Policy, Review Process & Quality Improvement Plan (QIP)

Quality Improvement Plan (QIP)

A Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) is a document that identifies the service’s goals for quality improvement and notes some strategies for achieving those goals. It helps everyone at the service to stay focused on the improvements and on implementing the strategies needed to achieve the goals.

It is important that we all have an active role in setting the goals and improvements to ensure that we continue to run a quality service that meets the needs of our Community.

Our Quality & Improvement Plan is located next to the sign in and out iPad in all centres.

Policy & Procedures

We are currently in the processes of reviewing our policy document and will be looking to simplify our review process by the end of Term 1.

Under the current review process, our current policies are not due for review until April 2019, however we believe it is a great time to implement this review change into our QIP.

We would love for any suggestions that you may have to be added into the Progress Notes part of the QIP.

Please note that for the purpose of this change that the policy document has been marked “UNDER REVIEW”.  We will give all stakeholders till 1st April, 2019 to send through their comments which will also align with the review date.  Please send all feedback to feedback@ktoosh.com.au

The Policy & Procedures document is located next to the sign in and out iPads in all centres.

If you have any problems accessing our Policy & Procedures or the Quality Improvement Plan, please ask any of the Educators who will guide you to them.

 

Pre-K is starting at KT OOSH RHAC……..

Families would have noticed the additional fencing in A Block.  This is for the introduction of the schools Pre-K students which range from 3 -> 4 years old.  We are very excited to have these additional students become part of our service.

KT OOSH is just awaiting the final sign off to commence operating Before and After School Care for Pre-K students.  Our Directorate came in last week to assess the area and we are now just waiting to gain our final approval which hopefully will see the service up and running within the next three weeks.

Pre-K will operate out of A Block as follows:

Pre-K AM Session: 7:00am – 8:45am

Pre – K PM Session: 3:30pm – 5:30pm

Vacation Care: Not available

Please refer to our Family Handbook for the current Fee Schedule per session.

 

Invoice Changes, Annual Fee Increases + Staff Development Day Charges

INVOICING Changes April 2019

Currently KT OOSH Services charge a family bond and all session charges are in arrears instead of in advance.

Should your child have ongoing permanent bookings then your family bond will be credited to your account and will show as your balance forward on the next invoicing run.  All casually enrolled families will still be required to have a refundable $300.00 family bond held on their account.

Effective from April 2019 KT OOSH will be gradually moving our invoicing system to charge two weeks in advance instead of two weeks in arrears.  The transition into the process will aim to not impact on our families too much as it is over the school holiday period.  Should you feel there maybe an issue during the invoicing change transition then please contact Caitlin Eastman in our Head Office on 8814 7610, our invoicing for April will be as follows:

Tuesday 9th April 2019Families with permanent bookings will have their refundable family bond applied to their outstanding fees as a fee payment and receive a fee invoice covering 25th March through to 21st April being a four week period (includes week 1 of VC) with an opening credit amount equivalent to your originally family bond paid upon enrolment with the service.  This amount will then be deducted from your nominated account Wednesday 10th April 2019 and places your account one week in advance.

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 – Families will receive a fee invoice covering 22nd April to 19th May 2019 being another four week period.  This amount will then be deducted from your nominated account Wednesday 24th April 2019 and places your account two weeks in advance.

Tuesday 7th May 2019 – There will be NO fee invoice sent to families and therefore no fee deductions on Wednesday 8th May 2019.

Tuesday 14th May 2019 – Families will receive a fee invoice covering 20th May to 2nd June 2019 being a two week period.  This amount will be deducted from your nominated account Wednesday 15th May 2019 and places your account two weeks in advance.

PLEASE NOTE………  Your fee statement you receive in advance only estimates your CCS entitlements and this is highlighted on your fee invoice.  Should there be any adjustments to these by centrelink then the adjustments will be adjusted on the following fortnights fee statements. 

From April 2019 Family Bonds will no longer apply as they will have been placed on your accounts as a fee payment.  When our families wish to close there accounts going forward from April 2019 then the last two weeks of care will not be payable if the fees covering this period have already been covered.

ANNUAL FEE Increase + STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY Charges

After careful review and making numerous operational changes as you may have noticed at our services over the past six month, we are happy to advise that there was NO fee increase January 2019  as per the normal annual increases.  In addition from the commencement of 2019, Before and After School Session fees are no longer payable on Staff Development Days.

The reason we are able to not increase session fees last month and remove the staff development fee policy going forward is due to various operational changes over the past six month, one being the implementation of the Kiosk system to sign the children in and out of the service as it takes a huge amount of data entry and processing to Centrelink away from administration tasks and in turn cut costs which we are passing onto our parents where we can.

We are always looking at ways to reduce costs that we can then pass onto our families and after listening to our families, we thought these two costs would be a good way.  Session fees will be reviewed in June 2019 in line with annual educator award reviews as normal and we will advise parents accordingly if there is going to be any changes.

We always do our best to pass on savings where we can to assist parents and the community.

A full copy of our fees policy resides in our Policy & Procedure folder at the sign in area should you wish to view it.  Should you wish to discuss any of the above further then please feel free to contact head office or email feedback@ktoosh.com.au