By Jess Baker
The fate of Stanthorpe’s only major Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) centre is on the line, with Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) voting to commence public consultation on its closure at last week’s ordinary meeting.
It is understood that ownership of the OSHC service was transferred to SDRC on 1 January 2018 and has been able to continue due to lease extensions on the current Corundum Street premises.
In a report to Council, officers noted that SDRC cannot extend the current lease beyond 30 June 2021 and must therefore consider either ceasing operations or relocating to an alternative site.
Councillors Cameron Gow and Ross Bartley raised concerns in last week’s ordinary meeting about the financial implications of continuing to operate the OSHC service, making reference to the fact SDRC currently pays in excess of $17,000 per year for its lease at Corundum Street.
Staff could not confirm whether SDRC is profiting or losing revenues due to operation of the OSHC service, but Councillor Stephen Tancred said he believes Council is suffering a considerable loss.
“We’ve discussed this in a workshop before and I thought we were making a loss of between $500 and $1000 per student per year… that was my recollection,” said Cr Tancred.
“I thought it might be easier to just write cheques to those families to subsidise them to attend another service.”
SDRC’s Commercial Services Coordinator said officers have already commenced negotiations with a third party for the potential leasing of a new premises that looks “very promising” and would offer a larger space that can serve more families.
The Stanthorpe OSHC currently cares for 73 children from 60 families and operates at a 30 child capacity while providing after school and vacation care.
If SDRC were to cease operations, families would have no other option but to transfer to the only other provider in Stanthorpe, Aussie Kindies Early Learning.
Centre manager Taylor Emblen said Aussie Kindies offers both an OSHC program and a vacation care program – among other programs – and is licensed to educate and care for 61 children per day.
She could not confirm how many children attend the Aussie Kindies programs, but said there is “some availability”.
“We do have the capacity to take on some more children in our outside school hours care program and our vacation care program,” said Taylor.
Aussie Kindies operates from 6.00am to 6.00pm weekdays, 52 weeks of the year, while the Stanthorpe OSHC operates from 2.30pm to 6.00pm weekdays and 8.00am to 6.00pm during school holidays.
Council officers acknowledged in their report to SDRC that the OSHC service “may not be considered core Council business”, but the provision of after school and vacation care is critical to the community.
Council’s unanimous decision to seek public feedback on the future of the OSHC service follows the recent closure of OSHC and vacation care centre, ‘Stanthorpe Cool Kids’.
