OUTSIDERS OSHC

The Outsiders Play Advocates (TOPA) is dedicated to providing a community based and playwork inspired OSHC option for schools who need to, or wish to, outsource the running of their Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program. We aim to reduce the gap or disconnect between privately owned OSHC’s and school communities so that a more open, communicative and supportive environment is created, an environment where children can thrive through their early school years. At the same time, we hope to give children the greatest and widest opportunities for play that we can afford.

TOPA, as it would suggest in our name, value play, and focus on providing endless opportunities for children in our care. We see our role as to provide a space where children can explore, find safety, create, challenge themselves, grow, learn, overcome frustration, develop resilience through intrinsically motivated, personally directed and free chosen play. TOPA will provide highly trained and knowledgeable staff to help support children in the creation of a space that is for them, and therefore can act as a second home.

TOPA will provide an OSHC service that is inspired, at its core, by play, community and the values they promote. We will achieve this by:

- Committing to a playwork philosophy and pedagogy: Playwork is a field of study that is popular in the UK, Europe and the Americas. Playwork involves the study (scientific and theoretical) of play and its role in the life of a human being, how to understand and sustain a physical play space, and the adults role or affect within the playing child’s world. As a service we use this deep base of knowledge to understand why children’s play is so important, how to best provide spaces to inspire play, and how to manage other aspects (non-play related) of a service in a way that respects the playfulness of children.

- Provide Professional and Dedicated Staff: TOPA understand that to build a community, you need consistency, especially consistency of people. ‘It is the people, not the things of people, that hold a community’. TOPA places a huge emphasis on creating an environment that not only the children love, but the staff love to. We aim for high staff retention through providing a unique work environment where they can grow, learn and develop their skills and understandings within the industry. TOPA, through our consultancy business, have developed skills in upskilling management and staff. TOPA will use these skills developed through consultancy work to upskill all staff to increase and maintain high levels of professionalism.

- High investment in staff PD and Training.

- Run the OSHC with integrity and high ethics. Placing the children at the center of every decision we make. We will have a strong focus on making the care affordable to the community, while at the same time not undercutting our ability to provide quality care.

- Limiting the Number of services, we operate so that we do not lose the ability to remain flexible to the community.

- Developing reciprocal relationships with school by establishing open lines of communication.

- Attending , where possible, school functions/events, P&C meetings, holding parent info nights, offering PD for school community.

- Supporting the school with extending children’s play opportunities.

- The Outsiders offer OSHC programs tailored to meet the developmental needs of children, informed from a Playwork Perspective. This approach ensures children have the opportunity to gain life experiences and skills that are broad reaching and underpin the development of a successful human. The Outsiders team of directors have over 50 years collectively in the OSHC sector and we love bringing that experience to new communities. To ascertain whether The Outsiders OSHC would be a good for your school, please feel free to reach out and start the conversation!

Phone: 0407 655 981

Email: play@topa.au

OUR SERVICES

Outsiders OSHC Redlands College

Address: 38 Anson Road, Wellington Point QLD 4160

Contact: 0455 337 463

Email: redlandscollegeoshc@topa.au