Outside school hours care services, also known as school age care services, offer care for mainly primary school age children, including children enrolled in Prep, before and after school.
Services operate from a variety of locations such as schools, youth clubs and community centres. Programs are designed and delivered by staff who hold relevant qualifications specified by legislation.
They are designed to complement the school day, and provide an opportunity for children to relax and play in a supervised environment. Under the Education and Care Services National Law National Law 2010 
and the Education and Care Services National Regulations , outside school hours care services are required to be approved. This includes vacation care services operating for more than four weeks or more per year.
Availability and details including operating hours and fees should be confirmed with individual service providers.
As of 1 January 2012, the National Quality Framework (NQF) applies to all long day care, family day care, outside school hours care, pre-Prep and kindergarten services. A small number of services continue to be regulated under the Child Care Act 2002. The NQF introduces a new quality rating system for services and new national standards that over time will include more educators to educate and care for children and enhanced educator qualification requirements. For more information, visit the NQF page.
Find an outside school hours care service.
Getting started
Settling into an early childhood education and care service is a big event in a child's and parent's life. The Getting Started suite of tip sheets has some helpful information and tips to help you both prepare for your child's first day.
This page was last reviewed on 05 May 2011
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) 2010.
