Approved Outside School Hours Care provider penalised for inadequate supervision of children during zoo visit.
Approved education and care provider, Extend (Australia) Pty Ltd, has been ordered to pay $39,500 by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) after four children ran ahead of their educator and were left unsupervised for approximately an hour.
The service, Marmion Primary School OSHC-Extend, went on an excursion to Perth Zoo on 16 April 2025 with nine children and only one educator present.
When the group arrived at the Zoo, four children aged between 7-11 years ran off. The educator was unable to follow, as she had five other children in her care, and soon lost sight of the four children.
The children subsequently walked around the zoo on their own and unsupervised for approximately one hour.
A Department of Communities (Communities) investigation found that the provider had breached section 165(1) of the Education and Care Services National Law (WA) by failing to adequately supervise four children in their care and had also breached section 167(1) by failing to take all reasonable precautions to protect those children from harm or hazard likely to cause injury.
More information on the SAT order is available on the eCourts website .
As stated by Angelo Barbaro, Executive Director, Regulation and Quality, Department of Communities:
"Inadequate supervision within the education and care services sector is a significant concern for the Department of Communities.
"One educator cannot be expected to effectively supervise nine children for an excursion to a large venue such the Perth Zoo.
"There are numerous risks associated with excursions of this nature with the potential for harm to children.
"Services must ensure that all risks are appropriately mitigated which included staffing to the assessed risks not just to the minimum ratio requirements. Services should consider cancelling the excursion if the assessed risks cannot be avoided or mitigated.
"Despite Communities' Education and Care Regulatory Unit (ECRU) providing ongoing information and support to the sector regarding the importance of active supervision, we continue to see cases where inadequate supervision has put children at risk.
"Services must ensure that their staff are prepared to actively supervise all children in their care, no matter their needs or circumstances.
"Even a momentary lapse of supervision can significantly increase the risk of harm to children.
"We urge approved providers to ensure constant, adequate supervision to keep children safe and to avoid being penalised."
