OSHC: Where play grows people

OSHC services are always growing and evolving, continually shaped by the ongoing arrival of new children and educators. How do we deliver services with great learning environments so both of these groups thrive? Come along for a day of stimulus, ideas, good food, critical reflection and re-engagement!

Conference Program

Emotional Wellbeing & Resilience Among Educators - Dr Saurubh Malviya, We Belong Education

Saurubh will explore the theories about the emotional intelligence of educators and provide a structure for educators to build their resilience in the workplace.

These contemporary theories will look at concepts of trauma, agreements, impressions and identities and how these phenomena will impact our being and behaviour. We'll also explore factors causing demotivation and stress in educators. You'll have the chance to discover practical ways to boost emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, and a culture of

growth and collaboration.

Engaging Environments in OSHC – Kylie Keane, Keen About

This session will explore how intentional environment design in OSHC can uphold children's rights, spark curiosity, and create dynamic, responsive spaces where children and young people truly thrive.

When OSHC environments are intentionally designed to uphold children and young people’s rights, support the physical and psychological conditions required for all to play and cultivate curiosity, agency, and connection, children and young people thrive. Truly engaging environments go beyond aesthetics; they actively invite participation, support meaningful relationships, and adapt to the diverse interests, cultures, and identities of the community. When environments are overlooked or treated as static, services risk limiting children and young people’s opportunities for play, passive and active leisure, exploration, wellbeing, and authentic engagement.

Participants will investigate practical strategies for fostering engaging environments. Together, we will consider how materials, routines, spatial justice, and educator interactions shape the overall ecology of OSHC.

OSHC programming: meeting the needs of the assessor AND the child! - Chelsea Pace, St Pius X OSHC

In OSHC, programming can sometimes become focused on meeting assessor expectations—but how do we ensure children’s voices remain at the centre? In this session, Chelsea explores how one service approaches programming through the My Time, Our Place framework while staying genuinely responsive to children.

Discover practical strategies to engage educators more meaningfully in the planning cycle, and learn how to authentically capture children’s strengths, needs and interests. This session will support services to strike a balance between meeting compliance requirements and delivering child-centred, purposeful programming.

The Power of Mattering – Kylie Brannelly, NOSHSA, QCAN

What if the most powerful thing a leader can do is simply make people feel like they matter?

Drawing on the groundbreaking work of Zac Mercurio and a rich body of research on psychological safety, authentic leadership, and human flourishing, this session explores mattering as both a fundamental human need and a practical leadership discipline. When people feel seen, valued, and heard — not occasionally, but as a consistent experience of their workplace — they show up differently. They take risks, they stay, and they bring their whole selves to the work.

For those of us leading teams in the OSHC sector, where the work is relational, the workforce is stretched, and the stakes for children are high, mattering isn't a luxury — it's a leadership imperative.

Kylie draws on Mercurio's The Power of Mattering, alongside insights from the fields of positive organisational psychology, ethical leadership, and workforce culture, to offer leaders concrete, accessible practices for building teams where every person knows their contribution counts. This session will challenge you to look beyond performance metrics and ask the deeper question: do the people I lead know they matter?

Leave with practical strategies to embed mattering into your everyday leadership — and a renewed sense of why it changes everything.

Showcasing new SA OSHC Action Research Presentations

Be inspired by the latest practitioner-led research from SA OSHC services, featuring six diverse and thought-provoking projects:

• Reconciliation Practices in OSHC - How can intentional reconciliation practices be embedded into daily OSHC programming, and what impact do these practices have on children’s understanding, family engagement, and educator confidence over time?

• Strengthening children’s agency in OSHC to better support older children - What barriers (e.g. routines, risk concerns, educator habits) limit opportunities for older children to take on meaningful roles?

• Responding to children's behaviour in ways that supports their learning and engagement 

• How does ongoing embedded interactive PD support educator growth, knowledge and practice in OSHC?

• Growing Responsible Persons in OSHC - What does an RP in your service know and be able to do? What is this role and what are they expected to do? What initial training is required for informed consent? What ongoing support is required?

• Sensory spaces in OSHC - How to support the diverse sensory needs and wellbeing of children while they are in OSHC.

  
  

 ​Tickets are

$250 (+ GST) Presale (until 14 August 2026)

$280 (+ GST) ​Early bird between 15 August and 16 October 2026

$320 (+GST) Standard full price

Registrations are now open!

Invoices for payment will be sent after registration - credit card payment not necessary.