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All about Rainbow Region Kids
Outside school hours childcare for Northern NSW.
Rainbow Region Kids is an affordable and inclusive outside school hours childcare service for school-aged children.
Our services operate across multiple locations throughout the Northern Rivers region of NSW. They include before school care, after school care and Vacation Club during school holidays.
We are not for profit, community driven and externally accredited to assure families of our quality services and staff.
Our values and philosophy
Rainbow Region Kids creates an inclusive, safe and engaging environment to meet the needs and interests of each child we care for. We celebrate the diversity of each child’s abilities and background, so they feel welcome and safe to express themselves.
Family oriented
Families are at the core of everything we do. We see ourselves as a family and so, by extension, are the children we care for. Our expert staff create a homely atmosphere so children feel safe, secure and free to make decisions that make them happy.
Play as learning
We value the importance of play, to encourage initiative and promote learning in a fun, enjoyable way. We nurture the skills, growth and new found talents of all our children.
Inclusive
We are sensitive to cultural diversity and welcome families from every background. We work hard to develop strong relationships with our children’s families and communities to support quality life experiences for all children, to ensure our services are responsive to need and to give families a say in how their children are cared for.
Children's activities
Rainbow Region Kids creates engaging, educational activities to support children’s physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth. Our activities and programs are based on the My Time, Our Place national framework for school age care in Australia.
Our trained teachers and educators plan and implement activities in consultation with our children. Every session and school vacation program is co-created with our children and is tailored specifically to the needs and interests of each child.
We provide multiple opportunities for children to choose how they want to spend their time with us. This maximises their sense of choice, engagement, fun and ownership in all our activities.
We encourage both structured and unstructured activities such as:
- Traditional art and crafts
- Group games and challenges
- Sports
- Drama, music and expressive arts
- Food preparation and cooking
- Exploration of Australian nature and culture
- STEM activities
- So much more
Our Vacation Club program is released 4 weeks before school break begins, which you can read here.
Choice and control with Xplor
We offer maximum choice, flexibility and control for families by managing our services through Xplor app. It can be accessed on mobile, tablet and computer.
Using Xplor Home, families can quickly and easily enrol a child, book a service, make a payment, update their information and provide feedback at any time that suits them. In addition, families can use Xplor to securely check a child into and out of our services, and to receive updates, photos and news about their child in real time.
If, at any time, families are not able to use or access Xplor, our staff are always happy to help.
Download the Xplor Home app or log into your Xplor Home account here.
Enrolment
New enrolments are managed through Xplor. For us to meet all our safety and quality regulations, families must provide a range of information when enrolling a child. All information provided is completely confidential. Enrolments must be completed and required documentation must be provided prior to attendance at any of our services.
Bookings
Our easy Xplor booking system allows families to stay in control, by booking any of our services and managing their bookings where and when it suits them.
Not-for-profit
Rainbow Region Kids is a not-for-profit social enterprise operated by Community Gateway, with 50 years of experience supporting communities throughout Northern NSW. Read more about Community Gateway here. Our childcare inclusive services are accessible to vulnerable and disadvantaged families, and are run in consultation with the communities we support.
Accreditation
Rainbow Region Kids is externally accredited against the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority‘s National Quality Standard. This accreditation demonstrates the high standards that our childcare services uphold, ensuring that our children receive the safest, most enjoyable and stimulating care.
Childcare subsidy approved
Rainbow Region Kids is approved for the national childcare subsidy. This means that parents can receive government payments towards the cost of our services. For more information, contact the Centrelink family and parents line on 136 150.
You can check the childcare subsidy status for each of our service locations here.
Healthy eating
To fuel the energy-burning excitement and curiosity of our children, we encourage healthy eating practices. We often include food preparation and enjoyment in our activities. In these cases, we provide menus that are healthy, delicious, and nutritious to stimulate our children’s appetites, senses and imagination.
Children often have food allergies, are often particular about the food they eat, and different families often have diverse dietary practices. So we make sure that we know the dietary habits of each child in our care and cater for their individual needs.
We provide breakfast at all our before school care services, and afternoon tea at all our after school care services. Read those menus here.
Payments
All payments, statements and account activity are easily managed through Xplor. Families can set up regular automatic payments or pay as they go.
Our staff are happy to help if families experience any problems managing their payments through Xplor.
Every family’s circumstances are different, and we are proud to support people experiencing financial hardship. We therefore provide flexible payment options on a case-by-case basis.
Feedback
We value feedback from all our children, families and their communities. This helps us to understand what we’re doing well and where to improve our services.
Families can provide feedback at any time through Xplor, or directly to any member of our staff. They can also provide anonymous feedback by completing the online form here.
Child safety
We take child safety seriously. To protect our children, all our staff have current NSW Working With Children Checks, undergo all relevant child protection training and operate under a strict range of safety procedures and protocols.
Only those people named in a child’s enrolment can collect them from our services. We only allow our children to leave with these authorised individuals, so any person collecting a child must carry photo identification with them.
To support these safety practices, children must be signed in and out of every session, which can be done quickly and easily through Xplor.
Privacy
In order to meet all of our regulatory requirements, and to run our services safely and smoothly, we need to collect and store children’s and families’ information.
All information provided to us is used and securely stored with complete confidentiality. We take privacy seriously, so families can feel secure knowing their information will not be disclosed to any other party except when required by law.
Information provided to us can be accessed and amended at any time through Xplor. Alternatively, requests can be made to any member of our staff.