WKC Expansion Approved
We are excited to announce we have been officially approved by the Department of Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Services) to extend our Service Approval to the following numbers:
1. Before School Care– 200 children increased to 229 children
2. After School Care – 200 children increased to 260 children
3. Vacation Care – 200 children increased to 260 children
This has been a mammoth effort by many volunteers (P&C, Subcommittee and working groups), the school, WKC Centre Management and team. This has been a long journey of working together as a community to achieve this fantastic result. The dedicated Wilston Kids Care team is so very proud and excited to have played a vital role in driving the final part of this project to fruition for our much-loved children and families.
The last installment of this project was to:
Renegotiate the 2018 Site Use Agreement and work with Jude Fountain the Principal, to secure the much-needed space requirements;
Work with the Department of Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Services) on reviewing the school site plans ensuring each allocated building facility met the National Law and Regulation requirements;
Liaise extensively with Department of Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Services) to walk them through and demonstrate our operational capability and vison for supporting additional school aged children at WKC; and
Undertake the rigorous application and review process to secure additional places and have our Service Approval Amended.
We are excited to announce this decision will now solidify our position as one of Queensland’s largest OSHC facilities in the Primary State School system.
What Happens Next
We will be transitioning 15 children at a time each week, beginning the first week in Term 2 and every week thereafter over a four-week period.
It’s important we transition and settle 15 children at a time before bringing in additional children to ensure everyone is settled and well orientated. To do this any other way would not ensure good outcomes for the children’s health, safety and wellbeing, so it’s important that we take the time to roll this out correctly and minimise disruption to our existing children and our educators. WKC has been busy orientating and training new team members at the beginning of this year in preparation to support the additional places once approved.
We will follow the below operational strategy.
Step 1 - The first 15 children from our Waitlist have been identified and the families of those children will receive a formal booking offer today (06.04.18) and offers will continue to be issued over the next four-week period 15 children at a time.
Step 2 - Once you receive this offer you will only have from today until next Friday 13th April 2018 to accept otherwise the system will automatically delete your Waitlist booking. We have adjusted the timeframe due to families being away on school holidays. From the next group onwards, you will only have 3 business days to accept as we need to work fast to secure entry of 15 children each week. Please note: If you fail to accept the offer it will automatically delete your Waitlist booking. If you wish to go on the Waitlist again you will have to reapply, and the system will allocate you in order of your new application date and will place you at the bottom of the Waitlist.
Step 3 - When you accept the formal offer, it will advise you of your official start date for your new booking in Term 2. If you have any further questions regarding your offer, please contact Dani or Michaela (3352 6753).
As you can appreciate, this is a large and formal process that needs to be undertaken. Unfortunately, we cannot use this time to field multiple enquiries of where families sit on the Waitlist. Our priority will be enrolling 15 children at a time/per week over as four-week period, then organising orientations for new families to ensure children are transitioned successfully into the Service.
Please be on standby in case you receive an offer as you only have a short amount of time to accept it. It will be up to families to keep vigilantly checking emails, so you don’t miss out.
We are so excited for what the rest of 2018 will bring Wilston Kids Care. Thank you for allowing us to support your child’s leisure, education and care requirements.