Page 5041 - Week 13 - Thursday, 12 November 2009

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combination of all three, dependent on demand for these services at the individual school. Of the 94 licensed services:

(a) 43 services (3216 licensed places) operate before school care programs;

(b) 81 services (5827 licensed places) operate after school care programs; and

(N.B. Not all licensed places are fully utilised at all times, the figures above are a total of the maximum licensed capacity of individual licences.)

(2) Yes. Vacation care programs are licensed under the Children and Young People Act 2008 and must comply with the ACT Childcare Services Standards 2009.

In addition to licensed after school care and vacation care programs many additional sporting and specialised educational activities are offered after school and during school holidays such as football and tennis clinics, drama and art classes. The Children and Young People Act 2008 (Act) has a provision which allows these services to be exempt from the licensing requirements prescribed in the Act.

(3) School Age Care Programs are usually located at primary schools:

• 59 at ACT Department of Education and Training ( DET) schools;

• 22 at Catholic Education Office schools;

• 1 co-located DET and Catholic Education Office school;

• 9 at independent schools; and

• 3 vacation care programs are at sporting facilities.

(4) (a) The premises where school age care programs are provided at schools are owned by the ACT Department of Education and Training, the Catholic Education Office, and a small number of independent schools.

(b) The premises where school age care programs are provided at schools are maintained by the owners of the buildings - the ACT Department of Education and Training, the Catholic Education Office, and a small number of independent schools.

(5) Before and after school care programs operate in existing school facilities that are also used by schools. The cost of repairs or maintenance is not able to be separately identified.

(6) The Building the Education Revolution (BER) initiative will benefit school communities, including before school and after school care service providers operating in ACT public school premises. While the BER initiative does not directly fund services or facilities for before and after school care service providers, the larger Primary Schools for the 21st Century program under the BER initiative includes projects to construct new and to refurbish existing school halls, libraries and classrooms at ACT public schools. Many of the before school and after school care service providers will be able to work with schools to access these areas and therefore will benefit from the new or refurbished facilities.

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