We're parents of children going to After School Care at Bales Park OOSH.

Bales Park OOSH is an after school and vacation care centre run by Willoughby Council. Council has decided to close the service by 1st July. 

By signing our petition, you will help us keep the Bales Park OOSH services open for our kids. Together, we can show Council what is important to the community.

The staff at Bales Park OOSH are outstanding and so caring with the kids, it is a balanced, strong and incredibly dedicated team. There is no after school care nearby that provides the same quality of service. The centre has achieved the National Quality Standard “Exceeding”. It takes years to build a centre of such quality and we are of the opinion that Council is making a big mistake in dismissing one of its assets so easily. 

The families of Bales Park OOSH are hard working parents mostly with no extended family in the area. We depend on after school care to be able to continue to do our work. 

Whilst during Covid a percentage of the population switched to working from home, this trend is currently reversing, as it is not sustainable in many professions. Hence, we could expect more parents to require after school care again in the near future. 

We would like to see other options explored, which could include interim arrangements, e.g. offering 3 afternoons a week instead of the current 5 days. A temporary arrangement could be in place for the remainder of the year with a scheduled review and parent survey early 2023. 

It should remain one of Council's assets to provide quality care for the community. Quality Childcare should be in the hands of community rather than private providers.