Happy Haven’s 47 out-of-school-hours care centres across SA forced into watchdog program
South Australia's largest out-of-school-hours care provider faces a year of strict oversight by the childcare watchdog. Here’s what it means for families.
The state’s largest out-of-school-hours care provider, whose staff left a sleeping child alone on a bus, has been put under a year-long improvement program by the childcare watchdog.
Staff at Happy Haven OSHC centres will have to make a raft of changes to bring its 47 services into line, including reviewing how they handle serious incidents and setting timelines for recruiting enough staff.
It is only the second time such a program has been put in place by the Education Standards Board (ESB), after requirements were imposed on Edge Early Learning’s 24 childcare centres earlier this year.
However, Happy Haven chief executive Nicholas Smith has reassured parents there will be “no impact or change” for the thousands of families who rely on it for before or after school care.
The company will review the way it reports serious incidents, assess the viability of services which have only one worker and low student enrolments, survey parents and staff and provide “clarity on key duties as they relate to child safety”.
It will meet monthly with ESB inspectors until November 30 next year.
There are about 4500 children enrolled and about 450 staff working at Happy Haven OSHC centres.
In June, a primary school-aged boy attending a Happy Haven centre in Adelaide’s north was left on a bus, which was then locked and parked at a depot.
The boy had fallen asleep and the company said it appeared staff did not follow safety protocols.
The ESB suspended the service, based at Riverdale Primary School in Salisbury Downs, until the end of this year.
In October, parents in the state’s South-East were given just days’ notice that the Happy Haven OSHC at Naracoorte Primary School would close.
Mr Smith said skills shortages in the sector were “extreme” and when an educator resigned just prior to the recent school holidays the company “had no choice but to close” the Naracoorte service.
In a statement Mr Smith told The Advertiser that Happy Haven had “proactively put forward a comprehensive plan to the ESB” about its operations over the next two years.
“For our staff and educators, it means refined focus on what important goals we are working towards in the interests of quality care, child safety, outcomes for families and the vital role Happy Haven OSHC staff have in our many school communities,” he said.
ESB chief executive Benn Gramola said Happy Haven had “proactively engaged” with the watchdog and services for families would not be affected.
“If the ESB had concerns that Happy Haven OSHC were not able to meet their requirements ...the ESB would have taken a different approach,” he said.
It comes after the state’s first enforceable undertaking was put in place for Edge Early Learning’s 24 SA centres in late August.
Edge management agreed to make improvements including bringing in an external consultant and organisational psychologist.
It followed a series of concerning reports, including of a child briefly left alone at the Edge Plympton centre and two other children left unsupervised by a student carer.
That centre has since been forced – in an unprecedented move – to close until January 7.
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Originally published as Happy Haven’s 47 out-of-school-hours care centres across SA forced into watchdog program
