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Outside School Hours Care Grants Initiative

Supporting the continuing access to outside school hours care for working families and regional communities.

Outside School Hours Care Support for Small and Regional Schools

Following the success of the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Establishment Grants Initiative, a further funding commitment of $14.674 million over 4 years from 2024 to 2028 has been made to continue support for OSHC services at small and regional schools.

This new funding addresses some of the challenges facing regional and smaller schools by providing additional financial support to enable the school to maintain their service.

Recognising the importance of access to OSHC for these school communities, the new funding will help schools that were part of the original Establishment Grants Initiative to build towards financial viability.

For schools seeking to apply for further funding, please follow the application guidelines available on the Policy and Advisory Library.

Outside School Hours Care Establishment Grants Initiative

The OSHC Establishment Grants Initiative was an $81.6 million commitment to fund OSHC services at government schools. OSHC supports families and promotes re-engagement within the workforce. Running from 2021 to 2024, this Initiative has supported over 420 government schools. THE OSHC Establishment Grants supported schools to:

Find out more about the Grants Initiative in this video.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/764371073?autoplay=0

OSHC Promotional Video

View transcript

More information on the OSHC Establishment Grants Initiative is available on Policy and Advisory Library. You can also contact the OSHC Establishment Grants team by email: <oshc.central@education.vic.gov.au.>

The videos below show how four schools used Grant funding to provide OSHC to their community.

Nyora Primary School

https://player.vimeo.com/video/764370836?autoplay=0

Nyora Primary School - OSHC

View transcript

Nyora Primary School is a small school in a regional community located in Inner Gippsland. Karen (Principal) and Wendy (OSHC Coordinator) have used grant funding to commence running the service through their school council.

The school has built and marketed the service to the school community and engaged local business and community involvement. The service is valuable to the community and has grown to towards become viable in the long term.

Napoleons Primary School

https://player.vimeo.com/video/764371303?autoplay=0

View transcript

Napoleons Primary School is a small school in the Central Highlands area. The school opted to use the Establishment Grant funding to engage a third party OSHC provider to deliver the service.

The funding has enabled the school to get the service up and running without the need to be viable for the provider from the start. The service offers after school care and vacation care to the local community.

Families use the service to support with work and training commitments and social engagement for children.

Maryborough Education Centre

https://player.vimeo.com/video/764368968?autoplay=0

View transcript

Maryborough Education Centre is a large regional school in Loddon Campaspe area. The Grants Initiative funded both new services and transport solutions in the area. Maryborough is the main site where a new service was established.

Carisbrook and Timor Primary Schools, two smaller local schools, were funded to access this service for after school care. Talbot and Dunolly Primary Schools also access the Maryborough service for vacation care.

Offering one service in the area rather than several small ones meant that the service was higher quality, and more finacially viable.

Marnebek School Cranbourne

https://player.vimeo.com/video/764368801?autoplay=0

View transcript

Marnebek School is a specialist school located in Southern Melbourne. The school used the funding to commence running a program for students at both its campuses. In 2024, the school transitioned to the High Intensity Outside School Hours Care program.

Communities

Updated 26 March 2026

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