School holidays are a challenge for many parents.
However, there are plenty of free activities near you if you know where to look.
A 2013 study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that 93 per cent of children aged between 6 to 11 are cared for by their parents during school holidays.
About 29 per cent are sometimes looked after by their grandparents.
But not everyone has family nearby who can lend a hand.
Perhaps this is why 14 per cent of children have attended some kind of holiday care program.
Camp Australia is one of Australia largest outside-of-school hours care provider.
Its chief marketing officer Tom Dusseldorp explains the difference between before and after school care to holiday care.
“The difference is it’s far more activity-based. It’s obviously a longer period of time so we operate our hours equal to what we would provide at a school. So, at school, sometimes the sessions can start at 7am and can finish at around 6pm so it can be quite a long day that we provide the cover for families but also far more activities cos it is the holidays after all kids should be enjoying a break from school and that’s really what we try and create for the holiday period.”
These kinds of holiday care programs cater for children from prep to year 6 with activities like arts and craft or excursions.
In July 2018 the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate schemes were replaced by the Child Care Subsidy.
The level of government support for vacation care is now determined by the combined family income, the number of hours the parents work and the type of services they use.
Whilst families earning up to $66,958 a year can receive 85 per cent of child care costs, the subsidy rate for families with an income between $66,958 to $171,958 gradually reduces to 50 per cent.
The subsidy level drops further for families with a higher income.
Dusseldorp says daily holiday care costs can vary between $50 to $90 a day depending on the location of the service and the type of activities offered on a particular day.
He advises that parents check with Centrelink to assess their eligibility to better budget for their holiday care arrangements.
“That has a spread anywhere from 10 per cent, 15 per cent, all the way up to 85 per cent of their child care cost can be covered depending on their eligibility and how the government has checked what they can access.”
Sam Skippen runs Croydon Tennis Centre in New South Wales.
She notices more children from multicultural families are ringing on their non-English speaking parents’ behalf to find out about the tennis programs during holidays.
Tennis camps generally run daily from 9 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon with some attached to before and after school care programs for working parents.
