What a year it has been at Oscar! We loved seeing many of you at our end of year celebration and ended the year with 3 sweet days of holiday programmes last week. It’s great to have Shelly back from her maternity leave and it was planned perfectly for when Hannah started on her own maternity leave! Sadly we’re saying goodbye to Esther, our Friday Oscar coordinator, who has found a job in a law firm as she finishes her legal studies.  Here are a few updates and changes for next year:

• Kitchen Klub and Basketball Club will be moving from Mondays to Tuesdays. This is due to staffing and programming reasons. We hope this still suits your families!
• If your child did Kitchen Klub in Term 4, CLICK HERE to download the Recipe Book for your holiday enjoyment!
• Mondays will be our ‘outing’ day. We think this will suit the young people better after their first day back at school, to blow away the cobwebs and get into the anticipated sunshine at a local park. We will still be back by 4:30pm for those needing early pick up.
• Our new final pick up time will be 5.45pm. Only rarely does someone get picked up after this time anyway, and it helps our staff with their own working schedules and getting home to their own families.
• We are continuing to offer our Oscar for School Years 4-9, even though we’ve had big discussions around decreasing the age. At present, we don’t have the resources, space and capacity to heavily increase our programme numbers, and this age range really does suit the special relationships and activities we run. We are open to making exceptions for siblings on a case by case basis.

We love being able to give you a quality programme for an affordable cost, but we have had to increase the prices of our after school care to cover the increasing costs of the programme. We have done an analysis of other after school Oscar providers and believe we still offer the best value for money!  The new pricing will be as follow:

– Half Day 2:45pm – 4.30pm $15.00

– Full Day 2:45pm – 5.45pm $20.00

– Full Week, Half Days $75.00

– Full week, Full Days $100.00

We do offer WINZ subsidies and encourage you to apply. Most are eligible and you can see if you are at: www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/oscar-subsidy.html

Please see Shelly if you need any help applying for this.

Bookings are already available for 2025, so log online now to make your bookings. The easiest place to do this is the Aimyplus App called ‘AimyMe’. Download the app by visiting the app store on your mobile device and search for AimyMe. Once installed, log in with your existing aimyPlus Parent Portal logins, and you’ll have instant access to the app.

2025 DATES

Our first day back at Oscar will be Thursday 30th January 2025.  All our staff on away on a beginning of the year retreat from Monday to Wednesday, for planning, envisioning and team building.  Please note, Oscar bookings do not automatically roll over each term.

CLICK HERE to read our 2025 Oscar Flyer. We’d love it if you could share your experience with another parent who needs after school care, which could really help our numbers.

Remember the quickest and easiest way to contact OSCAR is through the OSCAR phone, so do text it if you need to make any changes or updates. Please save it into your cell phone now, as whoever is coordinating that day, will have access to the phone: 020 4152 0494  or non urgent matters can be emailed to Shelly: oscar@yat.org.nz

Reminder that Holiday Programmes are in January for two weeks and spaces are still available every day!

Pukeko (School Years 4-6) – including a trip to Aqualand, 10 Pin Bowling and Ninja Valley!!

Piwakawaka (School Years 6-9) – including a trip to an Escape Room, Ninja Valley and Jelly Park!!

Website link:

www.yat.org.nz/holiday-programmes/holiday-programme-years-1-9

Finally, you are invited the Grace Vineyard Community Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve at 5pm at New Brighton Pier! It’s a great way to bring in the special day for all the family!

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break and enjoys their Christmas.

We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year and hearing all the holiday stories.

Nga Mahi

Shelly, Henry & The YAT Team

www.yat.org.nz