Auckland City review of school holiday programmes

MEDIA RELEASE
15 February 2005

Auckland City commissions independent review of school holiday programmes

Auckland City is commissioning a three month independent review of how it allocates its school holiday programme funding.

The review follows council's June 2004 decision to keep current funding in place, but to make sure it is fairly allocated across the city and based on real community needs.

While the total school holiday programme budget will stay the same, individual allocations to providers may change from June 2006.

Auckland City budgets $144,484 in support of holiday programmes.

The review, which starts 15 February and finishes 8 May 2005, will be conducted by independent consultant Rhiannon Herrick. During this time Ms Herrick will be carrying out research and one-on-one consultation with key stakeholders to capture data for the scope of the review. The scope covers:
- a situational analysis of current holiday programmes provision, including research and consultation on school holiday programmes currently funded by Auckland City and by private providers. It also includes comparisons to other Auckland council holiday programme funding
- identifying community need for holiday programme provision – any problems and issues and then prioritise them
- identifying any gaps or unmet needs
- identifying programmes which cater to children with special needs
- proposing ways in which gaps can be addressed and opportunities for development explored
- identifying a range of options to apply current levels of funding to best meet these needs.

The review and recommendations will be received in May and a report and recommendations will go to the Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee.

Councillor Penny Sefuiva, the committee chair, says "While Auckland City would like to fund all school holiday programmes, with alternative government funding (OSCAR) now available, the council needs to make sure it is spending its limited amount of money in the right places. I have every confidence that this review will help the committee make the best decision."

Since council's decision last June, council officers have been working with OSCAR to bring all holiday programmes up to OSCAR funding standard. Currently 18 of the 20 funded programmes are OSCAR accredited, with the exception of Oranga and Waiheke The Rock.

Ends

Note to editors:
Breakdown of school holiday programme budget:
- $7,840 is paid to Out of School Care Network (OSCN) to monitor and evaluate all Auckland City supported programmes against prescribed guidelines and standards. OSCN are a central government funded organisation established to provide support guidelines to out of school-care providers.
- $19,500 is paid annually to the innovative New Experience Programme. This programme is targeted to provide recreation, arts and sports opportunities for youth across the city. The New Experience programme funding is used to contract OSCN (Out of School Network) to arrange a series of tutors delivering excellent specialist programmes such as poi making or bead-making. Providers are able to book sessions with a chosen tutor for their programmes free of charge. The remaining funds are used to contract OSCN to evaluate programmes meet agreed quality standards. The programme was piloted through OSCAR in 2002 due to the positive feedback from the holiday programme providers, communities and participants the programme was expanded in the 2003/2004 year. This programme has been very successful and has seen children participating in a range of new experiences that they may otherwise not be exposed to.
- $117,144 allocated to programme delivery. The purpose is to fund and support 20 holiday programmes across the city. Each programme runs four school holiday programmes annually. Fifteen of the 20 programmes are held in Auckland city community centres.

ENDS

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