Petra Holmes is a Service Support Manager and educator at Peak Sports and Learning, which delivers an out of school hours care and vacation care program at Woonona East Public School.

Their service has an emphasis on healthy lifestyles, underpinned by policies and practices designed to ensure child safety at the service.

“The most important thing that we do is keep the children in our care safe - That is our paramount responsibility as educators,” Petra said.

Petra considers setting clear expectations around what each day will look like, which children are attending and what activities are planned to be key for ensuring adequate supervision under Element 2.2.1.

“Communication is the biggest part of what we do as educators. Communicating what will be happening, planning for that and ensuring all staff know where they need to be and when.”

Petra shared that health and wellbeing are a big part of the service’s philosophy and is something all of their educators are passionate about.

“When you’ve got passionate educators, that’s contagious for our kids as well. They can sense that enthusiasm,” she said.

Healthy eating is embedded in the service’s daily practices and to help promote a healthy lifestyle under Element 2.1.3, the service also engages with families on Storypark to encourage nutritious eating at home, providing recipes and advice on packing a healthy lunchbox.

“We also run cooking days during our vacation care program, where children take part in making healthy foods and at the end of the day take home the recipes so they can do the same with their families.”

In growing fruits and vegetables in a garden at the school site, Petra reflected on how the children at Woonona East Public School have learned to appreciate healthy foods.

“The children are involved in planting, caring for and harvesting the produce and they will use it in a meal we prepare together or take it home to share with their families.”

“It’s important that the children enjoy the experience and are connected to this process, so that they can understand and value food and where it comes from.”

As the name suggests, Petra said that Peak Sports and Learning is also committed to promoting physical activity for children at the service by developing skills and encouraging a love of movement.

“Some of the children attend our service 5 days a week and may not be able to participate in sports outside of school. So we try and provide that movement for them every day.”