School Holiday Programs

With Easter and then school holidays upon us once again, I have dedicated this column to providing advice on what activities are available to stave off those cries of “I’m bored” “there’s nothing to do” and which may also lend a hand to those who have to juggle work and school holidays … something our family no longer has to do now the boys are teenagers and out of school, but something I do understand well from experience.

Vacation Care

Vacation Care is a program for primary school aged children and will run from Tuesday April 6 until Friday April 16 at Pagewood Public School. It will be open from 7.00am to 6.00pm each day.  A whole series of excursions have been organized to keep all the children occupied and active, including rock climbing, movies, Symbio Animal Farm, a session down at Booralee Park and Clown Town Indoor Playground. There will also be visits to Vacation Care from an animal farm, as well as train rides and a disco on the last day.  Each school holidays we have a theme and for the April Vacation Care the theme is “Food is Fun”.  This means the children will be doing lots of food preparation and cooking activities as well as the usual art and craft and indoor and outdoor games. You need to enrol for Vacation Care and you can do this on Wednesday March 24 between 4.30pm and 7.00pm at Pagewood Public School. For further enquiries please contact Sherryl on 93663576 or Grace on 96666128.

Youth Holiday Program

While Vacation Care looks after the primary school kids, we have a separate program for high school students.  It’s organised by our great team of youth workers and we use both the Hillsdale and Eastlakes community centres.  The program kicks off on April 6 and like Vacation Care runs through to April 16.  There’s a trip to the zoo to look at all the animals and have a closer look at Luk Chai the baby elephant.  We also have archery, a bush walk, movie night, competition days (with pool, table tennis and PS2), a hang out day and, for the last day laser tag and bowling. At the two comp days (at Eastlakes and Hillsdale community centres) there will be a free BBQ while the hang out day sees pizza and popcorn. While the majority of the events are free there are some small costs for a couple of the activities.  Our school holiday programs always fill up quickly and to make sure of your spot for two weeks of activity, fun and just hanging out you’ll need to contact Yasemin on 9366 3889.  You can also book at the Central Library in Eastgardens on Thursday and Fridays between 11.30am and 3.00pm or on Thursday between 4.00pm and 7.00pm at Hillsdale Community Centre, next to Southpoint on Bunnerong Road.

Card Making & magic at the Library

At the Central Library in Eastgardens children from the age of 6 and up can come along and make cards for Mother’s Day on Friday 9th April from 2.30pm to 4.00pm; and on Monday 12th April from 10.30am to 12noon.  Bring along a family photo to include.    On the Tuesday 6th April from 10.30am to 12noon and again on Thursday 15th April from 2.30pm to 4.00pm children from 4 years and up can learn how to make Lily flowers for Mum on her special day.  Each of these activities are free.
On Friday 16th April, the Magic Jester Shayne Richards pops in for a visit and will do two shows, the first will be a magic show at 10.30am to 11.20am followed by a Balloon Workshop from 11.30am to 12.20. Bookings are necessary for this activity and can be made in person by visiting the library and speaking with Candy.  There is a small fee of $2 to be paid when booking.

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Easter