Data Sources
Where the data comes from and how it is collected
Core Datasets - reseeded automatically
ACECQA National Register - Victoria Periodic snapshot
The primary source for all OSHC service records. ACECQA publishes a daily export of every approved education and care service in Victoria. Each row is one approved service. This site pulls a fresh snapshot periodically - data currency is shown on the Info page.
OSHC services are identified by the presence of at least one of three session flags: Before School Care, After School Care, or Vacation Care.
DET Victoria School Locations 2024 Annual CSV
Annual snapshot of all Victorian schools including address, sector (Government / Catholic / Independent), school type (primary / secondary / specialist), LGA, and postcode.
Filtered to primary schools within the 31 metropolitan Melbourne LGAs (Plan Melbourne definition).
School ↔ OSHC Matching - methodology
Fuzzy Name Matching
OSHC service names are pre-processed by stripping provider chain prefixes
(e.g. "TheirCare - ", "Camp Australia - ") and expanding common abbreviations
(e.g. "PS" → "Primary School"). The cleaned name is then compared against every
school name within the same suburb using Python's
difflib.SequenceMatcher.
A match requires a similarity score ≥ 0.55. Where suburb boundaries don't align, a stricter threshold of 0.70 is used for postcode-only matches. 738 of 901 services (81.9%) are matched to a school. Unmatched services are retained in the database but not linked to a school row.
Fee Data - collected on demand
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| Source | Method | Providers covered | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Blocks | Next.js _next/data JSON endpoint; ULID-based service slugs |
TeamKids, OSHClub, Deutsche Schule | Collected |
| School websites | HTML fee extraction + linked PDF parsing | School-council operated services (e.g. BEPS, Westgarth, Brunswick NW) | Collected |
| TheirCare | N/A - fees are login-walled on all platforms | TheirCare (214 Victorian services) | Not available |
| Leapkids | N/A - requires account authentication | Leapkids services | Not available |
| Diocesan / MACS | N/A - fees set individually by parish, not published centrally | MACS and diocesan services (86 Victorian services) | Not available |
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Provider Type Classification
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| Type | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial chain | Large national or multi-state for-profit operator | TheirCare, TeamKids, Camp Australia, OSHClub, Extend, Kelly Club |
| School council | Operated directly by the school's council or governing body | Westgarth Primary School OSHC, Fitzroy North Primary School OSHC |
| Diocesan | Run by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) | MACS-operated parish school services |
| Community NFP | Not-for-profit community association or incorporated body | St Bernard's OSHC, Merri-bek services |
| Faith community | Faith-based operator (non-diocesan) | Various church-run services |
| Independent school | Run by an independent school's own governing body | Deutsche Schule Melbourne |
| Local government | Operated by a local council or municipal body | YMCA-affiliated council services |
| Small commercial | Small or single-site for-profit operator | Various single-operator services |
← Scroll right to see all columns →
Provider Intelligence - editorially curated
Ownership & Corporate Structure Curated
Identifies whether each major provider is privately held, founder-led, or private-equity backed. For PE-owned operators, details the specific fund, acquisition history, LP investor base, and profit flows - including offshore institutional investors.
Enforcement & Compliance History Curated
Documents regulatory enforcement actions, penalties, criminal charges, and enforceable undertakings against major providers. Each incident includes year, jurisdiction, penalty amount (where applicable), and links to primary sources.
Quality Score - methodology
QA-weighted score
Each of the 7 NQS quality areas (QA1–QA7) is assigned a point value: Exceeding = 2, Meeting = 1, Working Towards = 0. The score is the sum of points divided by the maximum possible (rated QAs × 2), producing a value between 0 and 1 (shown as a percentage).
Where QA breakdown data is unavailable, the overall NQS rating is used as a fallback: Exceeding → 100%, Meeting → 50%, Working Towards → 0%. Services with no rating at all are excluded from LGA averages.
LGA shading - absolute scale
Each LGA's colour is the average quality score of all rated OSHC schools within it, mapped through a continuous red→yellow→green HSL gradient. The colour scale is fixed to the global minimum and maximum at page load - so colours are comparable across filters. Selecting "Commercial chain" and "School council" separately will show the same colour scale, making the difference visible.
NQS Reassessments & Trajectory Data
What ACECQA publishes
The ACECQA daily CSV export includes two assessment snapshots per service: the current NQS rating (overall + QA1–7) and the immediately preceding rating, along with the date each was issued. No further history is provided in the export.
This means trajectory analysis on this site is based on a single before/after comparison per service – not a full longitudinal record. The Quality Trajectory matrix on each provider page shows how services moved between rating levels (Exceeding / Meeting / Working Towards) between those two snapshots.
Why trajectory counts differ from rated service counts
Not every rated service has a previous assessment on record. A service shows a previous rating only if it has been formally reassessed at least once since its initial approval. Newer services, or services that have not yet been revisited by their regulator, will have a current NQS rating but no prior one to compare against.
On provider pages, the Services & NQS Quality card counts all services with a current rating. The Quality Trajectory card counts only the subset that also has a previous rating – the difference is services assessed only once.
Geographic Scope
Metropolitan Melbourne - 31 LGAs
This dataset covers primary schools and OSHC services within the 31 local government areas defined as metropolitan Melbourne by Plan Melbourne (the Victorian Government's metropolitan planning strategy). Regional Victoria is out of scope in the current version.