Upper Hunter Council puts forward plans to transition OSHC to St Nicholas

The Upper Hunter Shire Council is currently seeking community feedback on a proposal to transfer the outside school hours care (OSHC) service at St Mary’s Primary School in Scone to early childhood education and care provider St Nicholas.

OSHC at St Mary’s is currently owned and managed by the Council and, if the proposal is approved, services will transfer to St Nicholas from 12 July 2021.

Council’s Director of Environment and Community Services Mat Pringle said all existing OSHC employees have been given the opportunity to transfer to working under St Nicholas, and the service would continue to operate under the same hours, with the same fees until the end of the year.

The OSHC service operates out of St Mary’s in a building that Council owns, however should the proposal be successful, Mr Pringle indicated it would transfer the building to St Nichols.

Mr Pringle intimated that the transfer would see a shift in priorities for the Council, saying “to have another provider means that it’s a service that Council no longer needs to provide. It will allow the Council to focus on other things we need to focus on.” 

“We’ll be putting a report back to Council at the May Council meeting, for a final decision and then the new service would be starting on the twelfth of July, all subject to Council’s decision,” he outlined.

Feedback will be taken via email ([email protected]) or post (PO Box 208, Scone NSW 2337) until Monday, May 3 2021.  

For further information about the proposal, please see here.