What out-of-school care is

Out-of-school care is when you supervise children aged 13 years or younger who are enrolled at school. This could be before or after school, or during school holidays.

You do not receive funding from us for children you provide out-of-school care to.

When your service can provide out-of-school care

As a licensed home-based early learning service, you can provide out-of-school care during licensed hours if you meet Section 19 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

The Act states that:

• A maximum of 6 children aged 13 or younger can be present in a home during licensed hours. Only 4 of these children can be there to receive early learning education.
• If a child of the teacher is present who is under 6 and not enrolled at a school, they are counted towards the maximum of 6 children. If they are enrolled at a school, they won’t be counted as 1 of the 6 children allowed to be present.

As with all home-based services, only 2 of the children in the home to receive early learning education can be under 2 years old.

Rules you need to follow

Some of the licensing criteria that apply to home-based services change if you provide out-of-school care. You will need to:

• include out-of-school care children in your written emergency plan and supplies (criteria HS4)
• do emergency drills with all enrolled and out-of-school care children at the same time (criteria HS7)
• not provide out-of-school care to children who are absent from school due to illness (criteria HS23)
• write to parents and caregivers of children enrolled for early learning education to let them know that you will also be providing out-of-school care.