The Helping Hands Network Foundation provides Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) in 25 schools in Queensland. The delivery of these services are provided, under licence, by Helping Hands Network in a school community partnership model. The Foundation enhances the service delivery to its partner schools by funding additional programs, at no additional cost to parents, that support the health and wellbeing of the OSHC students and the broader school community including:
- Delivering Moovosity, a program developed with the University of Queensland to increase activity levels and reduce obesity in primary school children in OSHC;
- Loose Parts Play, a type of play that supports invention, divergent thinking, problem solving and helps children to develop a sense of wonder. This is achieved through interacting with materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. HHNF has funded the construction of two Loose Parts Play Pods on trailers that can be moved between HHNF’s OSHC services;
- Providing free lunch for students who arrive at OSHC without food for their school day;
- Improving the kitchen/play facilities
- Providing higher staff to children ratios of 1:10 in many schools
- Funding staff time to support individual school initiatives. These have included reading programs in the classroom, delivering playgroup programs for younger siblings, tutoring, helping in the tuckshop, supporting the delivery of school breakfast programs and the care of community gardens.
Learn about our programs and find your nearest service.