What is occasional care?
Occasional care offers care for children on a casual basis. This service is suitable for families who do not need childcare on a regular basis but would like someone to look after their children occasionally, for example when they have a medical or other appointment.
The services are licensed with the Department of Education and Training.
What kinds of occasional care do you have?
From Monday 7 January to June 2019 we will be trialing an expanded casual and occasional care service. The trial aims to provide a better service for children, more flexibility for families and greater value to the community.
Casual care - five hour sessions
Five-hour casual care sessions are available at:
- Gold Street Children’s Centre in Collingwood
- Keele Street Children's Centre in Collingwood
- Yarraberg Children’s Centre in Richmond
- North Carlton Children’s Centre in Carlton.
All five-hour casual sessions run from 8.30am to 1.30pm.
From March 2019 we plan to introduce more locations to the trial and also offer families the option of a full day of casual child care (up to 10.5 hours).
Occasional care - 4 hour sessions
Connie Benn Early Learning Centre in Fitzroy is offering four-hour occasional care sessions. Sessions run from:
- Monday-Friday: 8.30am to 12.30pm
- Monday and Wednesday: 1.00pm to 5pm
The program is implemented by experienced qualified Early Childhood educators; this program is designed to stimulate the creativity, growth and development of all who attend.
Places are allocated using a Priority of Access Policy noted in the booking request procedure. Children from outside of Yarra are able to register to use the program also.
Children can attend a maximum of 8 sessions per month and no more than 3 in a week.
Occasional care - 90 minute sessions
We offer 90 minute occasional care sessions at Richmond Recreation Centre and Fitzroy Pool. Sessions run Monday to Friday from 9am to 10.30am and 10.30am to 12pm.
These occasional care services are for short term irregular care usage to help families to use our leisure service facilities. Non-leisure users are also able to leave their children at the service.
We provide safe, stimulating, high quality care and developmental opportunities for young children attending our facility.
Books, art and craft building construction and puzzles are some of the activities provided to keep your child engaged and learning during their visit.
To make a booking, contact our leisure centres directly.
How to enrol
You must enrol your child to be eligible for casual or occasional care programs.
Enrolments are now open. You can enrol online using My Family Lounge.
You will need to provide some documents with your application.
You must provide a copy of your child’s Immunisation Status Certificate when you enrol.
Depending on your circumstances, you may also need to provide a copy of:
- Court Order / Parenting Plan
- Medical Management Plan
Have a question about casual and occasional care?
If you have a question about occasional care, you can ask us.