Outside School Hours Care found in breach after child leaves OSHC service unnoticed

A seven-year-old child with additional needs left a Camp Australia outside school hours care (OSHC) service unnoticed and crossed multiple busy roads before being found by a member of the public, according to a decision published by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) of Western Australia.

The incident occurred on 30 January 2025 at Camp Australia's service operating at Victoria Park Primary School, Perth, Western Australia. The Tribunal found the approved provider breached three provisions of the Education and Care Services National Law (WA):

• section 165 – inadequate supervision
• section 167 – failure to take every reasonable precaution to protect a child from harm and hazards
• section 51(8) – failure to comply with a condition of the service approval.

According to agreed facts before the Tribunal, a child, who was seven years old and had Autism Spectrum Disorder, arrived at the service at approximately 7.30am. The provider was aware the child had a propensity to wander and required constant supervision.

At around 8.30am, the child was outdoors with an educator and a small group of children. A headcount conducted at 9.00am confirmed all children were present.

Shortly afterwards, educators lost sight of Child A. Between 9.00am and 9.05am, the child left the service through a gate unnoticed before travelling unsupervised across Albany Highway and Shepperton Road.

At approximately 9.10am, a parent driving along Burswood Road recognised the child by the Camp Australia hat and bib. The parent took the child into their care and contacted police, who returned the child to the service at about 9.45am. The child was not injured.

The Tribunal found the circumstances amounted to a failure to ensure the child was adequately supervised and a failure to take every reasonable precaution to protect the child from harm, including hazards posed by vehicle traffic.

The Tribunal also found Camp Australia failed to comply with a condition attached to its service approval.

The approval, issued in April 2023, required all staff to be familiar with the service's supervision plan and safety audit. During the investigation, the regulatory authority identified that two educators had not signed documentation confirming they had received training and were familiar with these documents.

The Tribunal accepted a number of mitigating factors.

While the National Law and National Regulations require approved providers to ensure premises are safe, secure and facilitate effective supervision, the responsibility extends beyond compliance with educator-to-child ratios. Services must continually assess whether physical environments, including gates, boundaries, sightlines, access points and shared-use spaces, adequately support children's safety and individual care needs.

The Tribunal noted Camp Australia had strengthened its environmental review processes following the incident by introducing external environmental scans before outdoor play, alongside new gate signage and system-wide environmental risk assessments.

On the day of the incident, the responsible person completed the prestart hazard checklist before children arrived, the service met educator-to-child ratio requirements and educators supervising the child were following the service's supervision plan. The child was not injured, the incident was reported to the regulatory authority within the required 24-hour timeframe and the child was returned to the service on 3 February 2025, where the child continues to attend Camp Australia programs.

Since the incident, Camp Australia has introduced several improvements across its services, including:

• additional gate signage
• updated environmental review processes requiring external safety scans before outdoor play
• improved access to child support information across services
• a new safety environment risk assessment
• a system-wide Safety Pause Meeting focused on gate security and environmental risks
• updated individual care plans for children with additional support needs.

The Tribunal also noted it had been one year since the provider last appeared before the Tribunal for breaches of sections 165 and 167, and eight years since a previous breach of section 51(8).

While many outside school hours care services operate from school grounds, approved providers remain responsible for ensuring the environment can be safely supervised while the service is operating.

Under the National Law, approved providers must ensure children are adequately supervised and take every reasonable precaution to protect them from harm. The National Regulations also require service premises to be designed and maintained to facilitate supervision, while ACECQA's guidance notes that services operating in shared or multi-use school environments should have supervision plans and risk assessments that account for factors such as gates, playgrounds, visibility, access points and children's movement between school and OSHC areas. 

The case also raises broader questions about whether education and care environments continue to meet the needs of the children attending them.

Across the early childhood education and care sector, services are supporting growing numbers of children with disability, developmental delay and additional support needs, many of whom require individualised supervision strategies. For approved providers operating from shared school sites, this can present additional challenges where environments were not originally designed with contemporary supervision expectations or children's diverse needs in mind.

The decision serves as a reminder that compliance with educator-to-child ratios alone is not sufficient. Approved providers must continually assess whether school-based environments, including gates, boundaries, shared spaces and access to public roads, support active supervision, particularly where children have identified behaviours or additional support needs that increase foreseeable risk.

Read the full State Administrative Tribunal here.