This intergenerational program will connect older adults with children and young people during the school holidays to share and engage in fun activities such as gardening, cooking, games, crafts, woodworking, adventures in the community and more!
There is no additional cost to participate in this program. Refer to the service flyer for daily activity costs.
Joining in the fun is easy! Book into the Holiday Program day via our bookings platform or contact our Customer Service team on 1300 072 410.
Watch our video to find out more!
Intergenerational programs bring younger and older persons together for activities that are mutually beneficial with an aim to contribute to building integrated age-friendly communities by developing, implementing, and evaluating reciprocal intergenerational learning programs.
In addition to the benefits your child may experience through this program, they will also get to take part in special activities which they may not normally get to do during Holiday Programs as we come together with the older adults in the community to have fun.
Our Generation Connection program is one of the first Intergenerational Programs to focus on the interaction between middle childhood (primary school) aged children and older adults in the community. We have been inspired by the hit ABC TV shows Old People’s Home for Four Year Olds and are working in partnership with experts from the sector, in particular those from the Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice and Griffith University, to develop and evaluate this exciting program.
A Generation Connection program day runs during a 3 to 4 hour portion of the Holiday Program day. During this time, we will be joined by older adults from our community and take part in some special activities designed to foster communication, connection and collaboration.
Some days will be held at the school, while on others we may head off on adventures in the community at a community organisation such as a community centre and amazing excursion destinations for fun excursions.
The usual team of friendly educators will still be running the day, with daily programs developed around the interests and needs of the children in the service and your community.
The remaining hours of the day will operate as usual.
Generation Connection is running at the following locations:
We hope to bring this program to more schools in the future.
For the January 2024 holidays, families will only be charged the lower in service fee on the advertised Generation Connection day regardless of the type of day. Please refer to the flyer for service specific costs.
This has been made possible through support from the NSW Department of Education Vacation Care Innovation Grant.
The Generation Connection program will operate for three days each school holiday period until July 2024.
The dates will depend on your service’s schedule so it is best to check out the Holiday Program schedule for your service to see when it is happening – keep an eye out for the Generation Connection icon!
The fun does not stop after the holidays – we will continue to keep in touch with the older adults through pen pal programs and other activities.
Services are connecting with local organisations such as lifestyle villages, community groups and social clubs as part of this program. To find out who your service is working with speak to your service Coordinator.
By working with local organisations we can codesign activities and schedules which get the highest quality outcomes for participants in the safest way.
We will be following all legislation required by the Office for Children’s Guardian and regulatory authorities, including screening requirements. The requirements will be the same as you would expect when visitors come to your school during the term for activities and programs.
In addition to the stringent policies and procedures which we implement in our programs to keep children safe day to day, older adult participants will need to apply to participate in the program and they will need to be linked to an organisation who will have trained staff joining us.
At no time will participants (older and children) be left unsupervised by TheirCare educators. You are likely to see additional TheirCare employees onsite at your service on program days to support the implementation of this program, i.e. on excursion days.
In addition to the training completed by TheirCare employees as part of their normal employment with us, service staff will be completing additional training around planning, running and evaluating intergenerational practice programs.
Elements of this training is being run by experts from medical, educational and community experts such as the Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice (AIIP) and Griffith University, both of whom we are proud to work with on this initiative
TheirCare Generation Connection – Intergenerational Program is a research project being conducted by Griffith University in collaboration with TheirCare funded by the NSW Department of Education, This research aims to evaluate the intergenerational program being conducted in conjunction with vacation care programs.
Currently, there are no formal intergenerational programs have been developed and evaluated to support the educational benefits of both generations specific to the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) settings, unlike the early childhood and teenage age groups. The study will provide valuable information worldwide into the Intergenerational Practice model and the benefits to children and older adults.
This study has been approved by the Griffith University ethics committee and will contain observations and evaluations completed by TheirCare staff members, optional focus group meetings for families and participants, feedback from older adults and deidentified demographic data. Please refer to the permission form for more information.
Leading the study is Associate Professor Jennifer Cartmel (PhD), one of Australia’s leading experts in the field of middle childhood development and Outside School Hours Care practices. She was one of the researchers and authors of My Time, Our Place, the only approved learning framework used by all OSHC services in Australia. She has spent recent years focusing on the benefits of intergenerational programs, speaking to conferences and governments around the world.
Participation in this study is optional, however we do highly encourage your child/children take part as learning can help shape future programs both nationally and internationally.
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In the spirit of reconciliation, TheirCare acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
