Under the Children (Education and Care Services) Law (NSW) and Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Law and Regulations), these legislative requirements apply even if you do not have children or young people who regularly sleep or rest in your service.

If children and young people decide to engage in rest or relaxation, services must take reasonable steps to meet their individual needs (regulation 84A).

Children and young people may need or choose to sleep or rest if they:

• are younger children or attending OSHC for the first time or for long periods of time
• are tired after they have arrived at the service or after an excursion
• are unwell and need a suitable place to sleep or rest, in line with the service’s illness procedures
• are neurodiverse, have a medical condition or use sleep and rest to support their self-regulation.

Educators can look for and respond to children’s cues, like yawning, disconnecting from play or a decreased ability to regulate their behaviour. These can be conversation starters and opportunities for staff to acknowledge children’s needs and feelings, while supporting young people to make their own decisions about their sleep and rest needs.

Sleep and rest policies

Regulation 168(2)(a)(v) requires approved providers to ensure that sleep and rest policies and procedures cover the requirements of regulation 84B. The NSW Regulatory Authority for early childhood education and care (ECEC), has developed sleep and rest guidance to support services develop their policy (PDF 215 KB) and procedure (PDF 180 KB).

It is critical to children's safety and wellbeing that services tailor policies and procedures to their unique context. Policies should be informed by and reviewed in line with a service’s sleep and rest risk assessment.

OSHC sleep and rest policies should consider:

• service procedures for active supervision, lines of sight and physical checks when children or young people are sleeping or at rest
• the agency of children and young people, and ensuring that they have choices about their sleep, rest and relaxation
• for transport or excursions, the process to support tired or sleeping children to transition out of a vehicle and continuing to support their rest and relaxation needs
• guidelines for practices that may change throughout the year. Sleep and rest opportunities may look different at the beginning of the year, compared to the end. For example, services may plan to provide individualised spaces for rest at the start of Term 1 and move towards relaxation activities as the year progresses.

In addition, consider involving school-aged children in the policy and risk assessment process to enhance their engagement and sense of agency.

Risk assessments

Services must conduct sleep and rest risk assessments as part of preparing their policies and procedures (regulation 84C).

A risk assessment must be conducted at least once every 12 months and promptly updated if the service becomes aware of any circumstance that may affect the safety, health or wellbeing of children or young people during sleep and rest.

The risk assessment must identify relevant and specific sleep and rest-related risks, along with minimisation and management strategies for each risk.

Risk assessment considerations for OSHC

Location and the physical environment

• In shared or pack-away environments, how do you create and provide safe, quiet areas for children and young people to sleep, rest or relax?
• How do you identify and mitigate the different risks between before school care, after school care and vacation care?

Supervision

• Young people may want space away from other children. How do you accommodate this while ensuring adequate supervision?

Safety and suitability of the equipment

• How do you assess the risks related to bedding, cushions or bean bags used for sleep and rest? These risks can extend to how these items may inhibit adequate supervision.

Sleep during transportation or excursions

• How do you supervise children who may fall asleep and conduct physical checks of those who have fallen asleep?

While these points support you to start assessing relevant risks, refer to regulation 84C(2) for more details on all the considerations you must address when conducting a sleep and rest risk assessment.

Keeping staff informed

Approved providers must take reasonable steps to ensure that that all staff members, including casual and volunteers, follow their service’s safe sleep policies and procedures (regulation 170).

In OSHC services, staff can change regularly. Inductions are a key tool in supporting everyone to understand their roles and responsibilities. Does your service induction process include a dedicated focus on safe sleep, rest and relaxation practices? This supports educators to understand what they need to do and how to consistently implement policies and procedures into practice.

Further information and resources

• Use and adapt the ACECQA risk assessment template.
• Contact the Red Nose Advice Hub for specific guidance.
• Engage with our OSHC Supervision Toolbox, which offers guidance and resources on best practice supervision principles within OSHC settings.
• Access IncludED@OSHC for professional development on supporting inclusion in OSHC services.
• Check the ACCC or Product Safety Australia for more information on equipment standards and safety.