When school’s out

The term ‘out of school services’ (OSS) refers to before-school, after-school and school-holiday programmes for school-aged children (aged five to 13 years), where the care of a child has been formally handed over from a parent or caregiver to an OSS provider.

OSS can benefit families in a number of ways. By offering children a range of enrichment activities and experiences, quality OSS can enhance children’s health, social, behavioural and educational development. For parents, the provision of affordable, accessible and appropriate OSS can remove barriers to participation in paid work and ensure that families are able to obtain quality care for their children without placing living standards at risk. OSS is also able to provide useful support to families with challenging care responsibilities, study or voluntary work commitments. It is the Families Commission’s view that all of these aims are important and that a well-developed OSS sector needs to pursue a range of goals in the interests of children, parents and families as a whole.

New Zealand research and consultation evidence indicate that achieving a reasonable balance between work, family time and income is one of the most significant challenges to family wellbeing. In order to invest in the future of their families, parents and carers need to have real choices about care arrangements for their school-aged children. This includes being able to care for children themselves outside school hours, through informal arrangements and/or through the use of formal services.

This report is intended to provide information from which to develop an OSS Five-Year Action Plan, led by the Ministry of Social Development. It draws on information from a large consultation exercise that asked a wide range of parents, carers and children how they would like to see OSS develop.