Frequently Asked Questions

We offer breakfast from 7:15am to 8:30am. Please ensure that you arrive before 8:30am if your child requires breakfast.

We understand that sometimes there are unavoidable circumstances that may mean you will be running late to collect your child. In this circumstance, you should call the centre to notify them that you are expecting to be late and give the staff member your estimated time of arrival. Alternatively, if you realise that you are unable to pick up your child on time, please phone one of your authorised persons to pick up your child before 6:00pm and inform the Centre immediately.

Any parent who collects their children after 6:00pm will be charged a late fee as set by the Management Committee. This fee is currently $15 for the first 15 minutes of part thereof and $1.00 per minute thereafter. This applies even if you are a few minutes late (by the sign out time on our system) for any reason.

After 6:15pm if the staff have not heard from the parent they will ring the emergency phone number. After 6:30pm the local Police Department or the Department of Community Services will be called. Two staff members will wait with children who have not been collected by 6:00pm. No child will be permitted to travel home alone.

Late pickup fines are generated automatically by our system, according to the sign out time recorded on our system. After three (3) late fees in the one term, your place will be cancelled.

Please see the Fees and Payments page for more information.

If your child is booked in for a session at OSHC, you must notify the centre if your child cannot attend,   by either marking them away on the Xplor app or letting the centre know to avoid unnecessary confusion & concern. Verbal messages from the children will not be accepted.

If the centre is not notified of a child’s absence prior to the commencement of a session, a non-notification fee of  $10  will be charged.

Enrolment is designed to be as pain-free as possible. Please complete our online enrolment form.

Yes, each existing family will receive a re-enrolment link from the centre at the end of each year. It is a requirement to have an up to date enrolment information under the National Quality Framework (NQF). Since bookings are removed at the end of each year, it is important that you also submit new bookings at the time of enrolment.

Yes, every family at The Kids Castle is required to pay an annual membership fee when they enrol/re-enrol at the centre each year.

Please refer to our  Fees & Payments  page for Membership Fee information.

No. The Kids Castle is a cashless centre which means that we cannot accept cash or cheques as a form of payment. Please see above for how to pay your fees.

You should receive a statement once a fortnight from our administration office.

Your statement details your usage at the centre from the past two weeks, and your total amount owing – which will include any missed payments from before the current period.

The Childcare Subsidy (CCS) commenced on 2^nd July 2018 and replaced both the Child Care benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR).

The Government assists eligible families with their childcare fees by making a payment directly to the service (in the form of CCS) that is passed on as a fee reduction (visible on a family’s statement). Families are then required to pay the difference between the fee charged and the subsidy amount – the “GAP”.

The basic requirements that must be satisfied for an individual to be eligible to receive CCS for a child, include:

• The child must be 13 year old or younger and not attending secondary school
• The child must meet immunisation requirements
• The individual, or their partner, must meet the residency requirements

To determine the CCS percentage and number of eligible hours / fortnight you will be entitled to, Centrelink reviews and assesses:

• Family income
• Results of an Activity test – The combined hours of Approved Activity completed each fortnight (ie work, training, study, recognised voluntary work or other recognised activities)

The number of hours the family is entitled to is based on the individual with the lowest activity test results.

• Type of childcare service (OSHC), which determines the hourly rate cap.

Make a claim – lodge a Child Care Subsidy Claim via the MyGov website

If you do not have a MyGov account, you can create one using the above link.

If you don’t receive confirmation of your CCS Assessment, please contact Centrelink on 136 150.

There are two steps

1. Agree to the Complying Written Agreement – This is also known as enrolling at the Centre via Xplor. PLEASE NOTE: The Guardian on the enrolment MUST be the parent who has been assessed for CCS.

In order for Xplor (administrators for the OSHC) to make a link with Centrelink, the following information must be provided as part of the enrolment (or shortly after):

• Guardian registered to receive CCS
• This person’s CRN
• This person’s DOB
• Each child’s CRN
• Each child’s DOB

2. Our administrators for the OSHC will submit a CCS Enrolment Notice to Centrelink, providing the above 5 pieces of information, along with the typical pattern of attendance, fees and session hours.

This will update your child’s CCS Enrolment status to one of the below:

Pending Eligibility

This means the family has not yet been assessed for CCS. This could be either due to:

1. The CCS Claim not being submitted or completed;
2. Centrelink having not completely assessed the claim;
3. The parent that is approved for CCS (with Centrelink), is not the parent that is registered as the guardian in the OSHC system.

Action Required by you:

• Review and determine the reason for the CCS Status being Pending Eligibility and address this reason.

Received

This means the 5 pieces of information provided at enrolment time or the combinations do not match the Centrelink system.

Action Required by you:

• Review the 5 pieces of information provided and advise Becklyn of any updates

Pending Confirmation

Enrolment information has been sent to CCS and the 5 pieces of information supplied match the Centrelink system. There is now a requirement to confirm the CCS Enrolment

Action Required by you:

1. Log into your  MyGov  account
2. Select Centrelink
3. Click on the Menu (3 bars top left of the screen)
4. Expand Childcare Subsidy
5. Click on Enrolments – check all your children have an enrolment status of Confirmed. Action any that don’t by clicking on “Review”.

Centrelink will automatically advise CCS % reduction and number of fortnightly hours (+ withholding percentage).

More information on claiming CCS through the Centre can be found here.

A CRN is a ‘Customer Reference Number’ Centrelink uses to identify your personal record. A CRN is a 9 digit number and ends with a letter.

This means enrolment information has been sent to CCS however there is some information that is either missing or doesn’t match with Centrelink records. This is usually the CRN for the claiming parent or child / DOB.

If your child is absent, CCS is still payable but only for up to 42 absences for each child, per financial year.  Please note: this number is not per claimant if you have a split family account.

In special circumstances, you may get CCS for more than 42 absence days, if supporting documents have been provided.

No CCS is payable however for any session of care that occurs:

• after the last day a child physically attended care, or
• before the first day a child physically attended care

When there has been no attendances for 14 Weeks, Centrelink will automatically update the Child’s CCS status to ‘Ceased’.

When Centrelink updates an enrolment to Ceased, they review the child’s submitted attendances/child’s last physical attendance at the service. Where CCS has been paid, Centrelink will automatically recover any CCS paid for absences after the child’s last attendance.

Our administration team will send a new CCS enrolment to Centrelink, either the week prior to or the beginning of the week bookings recommence.

You will need to log into your  MyGov account  and confirm the new CCS Enrolment. This can be done by:

1. Selecting Centrelink
2. Clicking on the Menu (3 bars top left of the screen)
3. Expanding Childcare Subsidy
4. Clicking on Enrolments – Confirming each child’s CCS enrolment

The Centre runs as an out of school hours (OOSH) centre during Public School terms. As such we only offer Vacation Care during public school holidays.

Vacation care is offered to students aged 5-12 (or enrolled in primary school). You do not have to be a Castle Cove Public School student to attend.