School Holiday - where do the kids go?

Hi all. Just a quick question around school holidays. Currently, we put the kids into a holiday club at a local primary school at the very affordable cost of £65 for both kids for all day care. Does something similar happen in Australia (Melbourne, to get into specifics). Do you find you have the kids in care for more days, as holidays are less? What do you do over the summer? I can never understand how everything seemingly shuts down (or so I'm told) for the whole month- does everyone use all their holiday allowance in January?

I am going from having 30 days holidays (I 'buy' holiday every year currently) to 20 so quite a difference for us...

Thanks in advance!

Hi all. Just a quick question around school holidays. Currently, we put the kids into a holiday club at a local primary school at the very affordable cost of £65 for both kids for all day care. Does something similar happen in Australia (Melbourne, to get into specifics). Do you find you have the kids in care for more days, as holidays are less? What do you do over the summer? I can never understand how everything seemingly shuts down (or so I'm told) for the whole month- does everyone use all their holiday allowance in January?

 

I am going from having 30 days holidays (I 'buy' holiday every year currently) to 20 so quite a difference for us...

 

Thanks in advance!

There certainly are holiday clubs in Perth so I assume in Melbourne too - these tend to be run by child care centres, although primary schools that have after school care may have these too.

Most people have a couple of weeks off in December/January but it's not me experience that 'everything shuts down' - at least no more than it does in August in England. It is a quite time with people away at different times and, in Perth anyway, very hot weather but shops are still open, businesses still operational and people still going to work.

We did find it hard going down to 20 days holiday, especially as we tried to visit the UK each year but we 'managed' - we would have two weeks holiday together as a family and the remaining weeks we would take separately so that was 6 weeks of the holiday covered. We both did flexitime so worked around holiday activities (as opposed to childcare clubs).

We ended up opting for an au-pair with mixed success & then a local nanny, we were incredibly lucky as she was superb. The appear was a very cheap option - 20 hours work a week in exchange for board & lodge. The nanny was expensive though - $25 an hour.

We never received any benefits but I understand the family benefits are quite good & you can claim back part of childcare costs - some of the benefits are means tested & we didn't qualify but I do not think the childcare one is.

It really has to be part of the 'will I prefer living in Australia' equation - personally I found less annual leave & longer working hours reduced the perceived benefits of living there.

Thanks for your reply. That is interesting. I will be working from home one day a week, as I do now, which helps but my kids are still absolutely exhausted by the end of the week.

But we do have holiday care here which the kids absolutely adore which helps me feel less guilty about not being off all summer and so hope we would be able to replicate something else they love. Nanny is interesting, expensive but if only over school holidays (if they'd do this?) then is rebate is reclaimed is much more manageable.

I have checked the Centrelink calculators and we would not earn any benefits either.

I don't think a nanny would qualify for the rebate - it has to be an approved child care provider. Family Day Care is an option though - this is very similar to child minders in the UK but if a holiday club suits your family there is no reason not to continue with that approach - the Child Care rebate pays 50% although I suspect it will still cost a lot more than £65.

Here's an example and you can use this site to search for others

http://ifp.mychild.gov.au/ChildCareService/Provider.aspx/29101/

When they were younger my kids went to the out of hours care at school during the holidays. This ran pretty much all pupil free days and every day of holidays except 2 weeks over Christmas. We paid $43 for a home day and $50 for an excursion day and got half back through the childcare rebate. Most schools here in Adelaide have out of hours care and I would suspect it would be the same in Melbourne. You do have to book in advance though as the places can get full quickly.

Is childcare rebate for anyone with children or just based on eg low income families? Or age of children?

We used a holiday club here in Perth which was ran by our local Basketball club and was extremely reasonably prices

Plenty of holiday clubs around Western Sydney, many run by the church groups etc, some at schools and then their are some of the camps (technology camps, Apple Camp etc)

Most around here are OSHC clubs attached to schools. Pretty much every state school seems to run them, can't speak for private. We pay $10 after school from 3:10pm up til 6:15pm. In holidays a day at the OSHC set up is about $50, an OSHC day trip/excursion is about $60. They open about 7am and finish at 6:15pm but you can pick up and drop off anytime. You drop off prior to excursion departure on excursion days obviously. They cover snacks and fruit, we send packed lunch but our OSHC does run a lunchtime menu you can pre order from online.

We get the rebate and pay half the fees, so $25 a day for a day in the summer holidays. They close for 2 weeks over the summer hols, Christmas and new year and usually the first week of Jan but open the other 4 weeks. Closed on public holidays.

Lots of other clubs like this run by churches and community centres also for similar costs. We prefer the school one as kids know each other and usually find friends attending,

Is childcare rebate for anyone with children or just based on eg low income families? Or age of children?

Information on child care benefits and rebates is here:

https://www.mychild.gov.au/childcare-information/rebate

Information on child care benefits and rebates is here:

 

https://www.mychild.gov.au/childcare-information/rebate

Thanks Skani! That website makes far more sense than the one I was reading. I was getting totally confused with the 2 types but this explains it much more clearly. I haven't seen anything about age which would be great if they are eligible from as soon as you go back to work. UK you have to wait til the term after they're 3 before getting any help with childcare....which is crap if you have to go back to work after 6 months! ( sorry off topic - just venting!)

If you are entitled to Child care benefits and/or the rebate there is no waiting period. My sense from my nieces and nephews in the UK is that are at school for fewer weeks than those in Melbourne. Here is it 4 x 10 week terms (with a little wriggle room for Easter) with no half term break so you need to cover 12 weeks. Whilst the standard leave is 20 days some people do negotiate additional unpaid weeks. This is easier if you work somewhere with some quiet times in the year, or you are in a strong bargaining position!

There are many options for all day care during the holidays. Often your local school will offer it if they have after school care. My daughter used to go to the program at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert park as I worked close by. If you google "Camp Australia" they provide a lot of holiday care day programs too.

If you are interested in in home care on some days (which will be a similar price as you have two children) have a look at http://www.findababysitter.com.au where you will find people happy to do holiday care whilst they are on university holidays.

None of this is cheap. Remember that our minimum casual wages are a lot higher than the UK and this reflects in the prices of things that rely on "cheap" labour.

Is childcare rebate for anyone with children or just based on eg low income families? Or age of children?

It's not means tested so applicable to all. Not sure on age of children - I guess for as long as they are in child care - after school/vacation clubs are usually for primary aged children.

On 03/01/2017 at 8:13 AM, Bound4Tassie said:

Is childcare rebate for anyone with children or just based on eg low income families? Or age of children?

The Childcare centre has to be accredited for you to get a rebate

On 02/01/2017 at 11:22 PM, jennlx said:

Hi all. Just a quick question around school holidays. Currently, we put the kids into a holiday club at a local primary school at the very affordable cost of £65 for both kids for all day care. Does something similar happen in Australia (Melbourne, to get into specifics). Do you find you have the kids in care for more days, as holidays are less? What do you do over the summer? I can never understand how everything seemingly shuts down (or so I'm told) for the whole month- does everyone use all their holiday allowance in January?

 

I am going from having 30 days holidays (I 'buy' holiday every year currently) to 20 so quite a difference for us...

 

Thanks in advance!

I am not sure it's less as in the uk it's a weeks holiday where in Australia it's 2wks so they don't break up as much 

Vacation care is readily available. If you need all day or want to get the government rebate look for programs run by school after care centres. You can go to any school not just your own. The private schools often have exceptional programs.  If you just want 9-3 youve loads of choice. Every soccer club, gymnastics centre, computer coding club, many museums offer interesting programs. I'm sending mine to. 3 day AFL course from 9-3. It's costing $250 per child. I could get all day at school for $45 pp after rebate.