Victorian government has been trialing a high-intensity outside-school-hours care (OSHC) program tailored to the needs of children with disabilities at five specialist schools, including Bendigo Special Developmental School.
The Victorian Government says the pilot of OSHC in five specialist schools across Victoria made a profound difference to kids – showing improvements in their educational and emotional outcomes, parents reported improved wellbeing, and giving 92% of mums and dads the opportunity to take up (or planning to) extra work or training.
Part of a $235 million investment in the Victorian Budget 2023/24 to support students with disability and their families, the five pilot schools will continue to provide OSHC alongside the 15 new sites – with a further ten schools to follow in 2025 and 2026.
The services will be completely free for families to use, with high educator-to-child ratios and activities, excursions, and school holiday programs tailored to the needs of children with disabilities.
The OSHC program will get underway for the first time in 2024 at:
- Ballarat Specialist School
- Concord School
- Diamond Valley Special Development School
- Emerson School
- Lake Colac School
- Marnebek School Cranbourne
- Melton Specialist School
- Monash Special Developmental School
- Nelson Park School
- South Gippsland Specialist School
- Sunbury & Macedon Ranges Specialist School
- Warringa Park School
- Wayi School
- Western Autistic School
- Yarraville Special Developmental School
Of the 20 schools, six are located across regional Victoria – two services are located in Bendigo, and one each is located in Ballarat, Geelong, Colac, and Leongatha.
