OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN (OMP) - PERTH

Aim

This Operating Management Plan (OMP) forms an essential part of the ongoing management requirements for the School (also referred to ‘the Akidamy’). It is a document required by some councils that reflects a reasonable agreement between the Akidamy Operators and councils in order to minimise any adverse effects upon neighbouring properties It is required by and reflects the intention of the requirements of the council’s conditions of development consent for the School.

Capacity of School

The School’s capacity is for a total of 90 Children and 18 Staff, as follows:

Nursery N1	Room ID	Age Group	Location	No. Children	Staff Role	No. Staff	Area (sqm)
Nursery N1	N1	3 to 12mths	Summers St	8	Educator	2	27.4
Nursery N1	N2	+12 to 18mths	Summers St	12	Educator	3	46.4
Nursery N1	T1	+18 to 36mths	Summers St	15	Educator	3	63.7
Toddler 2	T2	+18 to 36mths	Summers St	15	Educator	3	43.2
Kindergarten 3 + Art Room	A	36 to 48mths	Summers St	10	Educator	1	26.7
Kindergarten 3	K3	36 to 48mths	Cheriton St	20 **	Educator	2	56.8
Kindergarten 4	K4	+48 to 60mths	Cheriton St	10	Educator	1	33.5
Music / Meeting Room	M***	All	Summers St				8.6
			Summers St		Chef	1
			Summers St		Reception	1
			Summers St		Director	1
			Total No.	90		18	306.3

*Thisrefersto105SummersStreetlocationwhichisreferredtoSummersHouse.**34CheritonStreetisreferredtoCheriton
House.***Removingthemeeting/musicroomareafromthetotalareas=297.7sqmor91children.

Location	Location	No. Children	No. Staff	Area (sqm)	Licenced Max. Capacity
Indoor	Summers House***	60	15	216
Indoor	Cheriton House	30	3	90.3
Grand Total Indoor	Summers & Cheriton House	90	17	306.3	94
Outdoor	Summers House (outdoor play area and babies play area)	60	14	410.8
Outdoor	Cheriton House (outdoor play area and K3 play area)	30	3	287.9
GrandTotalIndoor	Summers&CheritonHouse	90	18	698.7	95

The total licenced indoor space incorporated into the design is 306sqm (94 children based 3 sqm per child) and outdoor space is 698.7sqm (95 children based on 7sqm per child), which exceeds the requirements. The maximum operating capacity applied for the School is 90 children, which is less than four (4) children of the maximum design capacity allowable. This capacity is based upon the numbers provided by the architect and in compliance with regulatory licencing authority and Australian standards.

Staffing

The School will be operated by 18 staff (including the 15 primary contact staff and 3 administration staff) at any one time. There will be a structured routine where the children will be divided between their age groups of 0-2 years (Nursey), 2-3 years (Toddlers) and 3-6 years (Kindergarten). A daily program will be based on their needs and individual development/progress. Each group will be required to maintain staff to children ratios in accordance with the Childcare Regulations. Our analysis of Arrival and Departure times across our existing School supports the staffing requirements and is in accordance with the requirements of the Children’s Services Regulations.

Hours of Operation

The School opens daily Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, fifty-two (52) weeks a year. The School closes for Public Holidays and closes over the Christmas and New Year Period.

Staff Movements

Arrival Times

Not all staff arrive at the same time. The arrivals are usually staggered between the hours of 6:30am to 9:30am. Early morning shift commence with three (3) staff (Cook + 2 Educational Staff Members) at Summers Street and 1 staff Cheriton Street, which generally occur around 6.30 to 7:00am to allow for room setups, general operational, food preparation and safety checks. Other staff members are staggered with numbers of children from 7.00 to 9:30am. Full-time staff work for 8 hours a day with morning and afternoon tea and lunch breaks. Part-time staff work shifts as required.

Departure Times

The staff generally depart from 4.30pm to 6:00pm based on the number of children at the School and hours worked. Generally, the school is closed with two to three staff members, depending on the number of children, from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.

Monitoring

The monitoring process for outdoor play is the same for indoor play, as follows:

Age Group	Monitoring Ratio
0-2 Years	1 Staff: 4 Children
2-3Years	1 Staff: 5 Children
3-6Years	1 Staff: 10 Children

Parents / Children Arrival and Departure

In the morning, parents usually arrive between the hours of 7:00am – 10:00am. Similarly for pick-up, the parents would start arriving from 3:30 pm and stagger until 6:00 pm.

• Nursery to Toddlers age group of children will be dropped off at the reception area at Summers House.
• Kindergarten 3 (K3) to 4 (K4) children and parents will use the Cheriton House entrance for staff to receive.
• Children must be escorted and logged in by parents at the respective reception areas in both Summers and Cheriton Street Studios.

If parents have both younger children and old children at the School, they generally drop the younger child first at Summers House and other older child and parent will need to walk to the Cheriton House through Norwood park. This is a general rule which allows for proper sign-in and handover to educator.

Parent will pick up each child at their appropriate Cheriton or Summers House depending on age. They will not use the play space as throughfare. This allows for effective handover and communication with parents and educators about the child learning and activities. This also ensures that parents do not unnecessarily disturb the other classroom or outdoor activities across the school.

If Parents have two children attending the school in separate buildings parents are able to drop off both children at Summers St if they are arriving before 7:30 am, this is due to staffing and the lower amount of children in this timeframe. Again from 5:30 pm to close at 6:00 pm, the children will gather centrally at the Summers House due to the low numbers of children remaining at the School and allow for adequate supervision of at least two to three educators. 

The trends of arrival and departure times are also based upon our analysis of Arrival and Departure times across our existing School.
At all times, a legal responsible person will be on site. 

Visitors, School Tours and Deliveries

Due to strict compliance regulatory requirements, all deliveries and visitors will be from Summers Street entrance to allow for proper checks and log-in requirements.

Activities

The indoor and outdoor play space at Summers and Cheriton Houses are interconnected to allow for children and staff interaction, movement, and the shared use of the facilities based on programming, staff needs, and children's needs (i.e. music room, garden beds, staff facilities, language classes, yoga, and art activities).

All Indoor and Outdoor Activities are supervised by the regulated number of trained staff. The outside play area will be used only during the School hours of operation, depending on the weather conditions.

All outdoor activities are fully supervised and monitored. Educators and children are encouraged to participate in quiet play activities.
The specified outdoor play policy and times shall be adhered to. Exceptional circumstances may apply. The School Director shall ensure that outdoor play activities are conducted in an orderly fashion and that excessive noise from children playing, etc., is avoided wherever possible and practical.
Indoor activities are programmed depending on children’s needs and developmental stages. Typically, the daily routine is as follows:

Time Slots	Description
6:30am-7:00am	Staff setup School studios
7:00am-8:00am	Settling in for early arrivals and School Program – individual work and reading time
7:00am-8:00am:	Program – individual Work
8:30am-9:00am	Morning Tea
9:00am-11:00am	Program – Language or Art or educational activities and outplay
11:00am-11:30am	Lunchtime
11:30am-12:30pm	Sleep or Rest/Time
12:30pm-5:00pm	Other play and educational activity (e.g. music, art and Italian language) or Outdoor Play, and Afternoon Tea
5:00pm-6:00pm	Indoor activities
6:00pm-6:30pm	School Staff general clean up Studios and other spaces.

Outdoor

As mentioned, the play space at Summers and Cheriton Houses are inter-connected to allow for children and staff to have interaction and allow for movement and the shared use of facilities based on programming, staff and children needs (i.e. music room, garden beds, staff facilities, language classes, yoga and art activities). Typically, the daily routine is as follows:

• Mornings: 9:00 – 11:30 am
• Afternoons: 1:00 – 4:30 pm (maybe be longer in summer or if weather appropriate)

Outdoor activities are programmed depending on children’s’ needs and developmental stages. Outdoor activities vary from day to day and are dependent upon the weather and the programme. They include:

• Ball games
• Team play
• Balancing, Climbing, Stepping
• Using variety of gross motor skills development equipment
• Environmental and nature based activities
• Supervised play
• Sand play
• Water based play (not swimming pool)
• Free play

ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMES PLAN

Aim

The purpose of the Environmental Policy is to provide guidelines and a framework to ensure that the sustainability and environmental consciousness objectives of the Akidamy School of Early Learning are consistently met.

Method

In order to help meet these objectives, a Sustainability Audit and Sustainability Action Plan will be developed and regularly monitored. The Sustainability Action Plan will include all the action steps that are required to meet the above objectives. In addition:

• Each action step shall have a specific deliverable and an expected timeframe.
• Progress against each action step shall be monitored regularly,
• Action steps shall be updated or revised accordingly.

Key Initiatives and Activities

The School will be incorporating the following environmental initiatives and programme:

• Current and planned solar panels will generate 95 to 100% of the School Power based on winter load requirements. As the school operates during most day hours, the use of battery storage would not be efficient or cost-effective means of generating power, this will be reviewed annually to evaluate the potential 100% off grid energy power generation.
• All lighting is LED to reduce power consumptions.
• All windows have window treatments to reduce heat load on the building.
• Roofing material uses light colours to reduce heat loading to the building, including high quality insulation to further reduce the use of air conditioning.
• The use of water is also controlled and managed through use of Bluetooth control drip water systems and low use water plants.
• The school has a heavy focus on sustainability, and such, utilises as much as possible the re-use of material for educational purposes and activities. Recyclable material and other waste are separated and stored separately. We also collect all food scrap from meals which are placed in composite bin at the school and then used in our school garden. Monitoring of waste composition to identify opportunities for source separation of recycling waste materials and waste reduction activities;

• Environmental Learning Opportunities - Environmental learning opportunities for children will be developed to teach children an understanding and respect for the environment and reducing our carbon footprint and encourage families to take public transport and walk/cycle to the School. In particular, environmental learning opportunities will be designed and introduced to children.

• Parent/Family Involvement - Parents and Families will be regularly advised of the sustainability activities that children are involved in and will be asked to participate in various sustainability events and communal working sessions.
• The School design is based on 30 to 40% permanent shade structure to allow for children to play in all weather conditions all year round.
• The successfulness of the existing School implementation of operational policies is associated with the encouragement of the use of alternative modes of transportation by staff. Staff are given a financial incentive to take public transport, walk or ride a bicycle to and from work.
  • The School has approximately 20% of its staff take public transport or walk or cycle.
  • The School has a high proportion of families walking or cycling to and from the centre, with approximately 30% of all visitors walking or cycling to the centre.

Sustainability Committee

• The School will establish a Sustainability Committee made up of staff from various areas and will seek external support as required.
• The Sustainability Committee will meet at least once every three months at a time determined by the committee.
• The Sustainability Committee will be a formal working committee, however, will only have the authority to recommend a course of action to the School Director/Nominated Supervisor.

Environmental Compliance

The School will comply with all relevant environmental acts and regulations issued by Federal, State and Local government bodies.

Environmental Procurement

Environmental considerations will be taken into account when purchasing goods and services on behalf of the school, in particular:

• When purchasing products, preference will be given to items that are made from sustainably derived materials that have recycled content or can be reused or refilled.
• When purchasing or using cleaning supplies, preference will be given to items that are environmentally responsible, non-toxic and phosphate free.
• When purchasing office machines, computer equipment and appliances, preference will be given to items that have an Energy Star rating of 4 stars or more.
• When purchasing other supplies and materials, preference will be given to items that are clearly and independently certified that the product is environmentally responsible.
• Locally produced goods and services will be given preference to interstate or imported goods and services to reduce travel related emissions.

Underpinning this environmental procurement philosophy is an assumption that all other factors in the purchasing decision are also considered such as price, quality, availability, accessibility and service.

Environmental Learning Opportunities

Environmental learning opportunities for children will be developed in order to teach children an understanding and respect for the environment. In particular, environmental learning opportunities will be designed and introduced to children that:

• Develop their life skills, such as growing and preparing food, waste reduction and recycling,
• Teach them an appreciation of the natural environment and the interdependence between people, plants, animals and the land,
• Encourage energy efficiency practices such as switching off unused lights, appliances and electronic equipment,
• Promote water conservation practices such as minimising shower times and turning off taps when brushing teeth etc.
• Build a sense of responsibility for caring for the natural environment.
• Waste Management
• The School will adopt general waste management principles with a view to maximising the level of recycling and minimising general waste sent to landfill.

Energy Efficiency

• The School will adopt energy efficiency practices to minimise the amount of electricity and gas used in the normal course of business.
• All lighting is LED to reduce power consumptions.
• Current and planned solar panels will generate 95 to 100% of the School Power based on winter load requirements. As the school operates during most day hours, the use of battery storage would not be efficient or cost effective means of generating power, this will be reviewed annual to evaluate the potential 100% off grid energy power generation.

Transport

The successfulness of the existing School implementation of operational policies associated with the encouragement of the use of alternative modes of transportation by staff. Staff are given a financial incentive to take public transport, walk or ride a bicycle to and from work.

• The School has approximately 20% of its staff take public transport or walk or cycle.
• School has a high proportion of families walking or cycling to and from the centre., with approximately 30% of all visitors walk or cycle to the centre.
• Children and School outings use public transport due to location of the School free train transport corridor and majority out of School visitors are within the Perth CBD area.

Parent/Family Involvement

• Parents and Families will be encouraged to practice waste management and energy efficiency techniques at home to allow children to receive a consistent message.
• Parents and Families will be regularly advised of the sustainability activities that children are involved in and will be asked to participate in various sustainability events and communal working sessions.

Communicating Policy to Families, Children and Team Members

Information relating to the Environmental Policy is communicated in the following ways: Newsletters, Family and Educators handbooks, team meetings and memos, planned experiences for the children, notice boards and posters, pamphlets and information sheets in the foyer, role modelling and signs displayed around the classrooms and School etc.