What is OSCAR?
OSCAR is an acronym for Out of School Care and Recreation.
What OSCAR means
OSCAR is a term that has been widely adopted in New Zealand to describe services that provide regular care for school age children (5 – 13 year olds) outside school hours; that is, before and after school and during the school holidays.
OSCAR programmes provide children with numerous opportunities that assist them to develop physically, socially, creatively, emotionally, academically and culturally while simply playing and having fun in a free, but safe environment.
OSCAR programmes vary tremendously around the country according to the type of community they are run in. But all are similar in that they are largely recreational and that the “care” factor is very important. Responsibility for the children's safety and well being is formally handed over from the family or whanau to the person supervising the programme.
