5 – 12 years
School-age
We collect from and return to five nearby elementary campuses, cover school holidays and early-release days, and give every child forty-five minutes of quiet homework time with an adult who will actually sit down with them.
Open — Places open on all five bus routes.
The after-school hours are the ones working parents cannot cover, so this programme is built around the gap rather than around an idea of enrichment. Children get off the bus, wash up, eat something hot, and sit down to homework while they still have the energy for it.
Homework time is forty-five minutes and it is quiet. An adult moves between tables. We do not do the work for them and we do not pretend it was finished if it was not — you will get a note.
After that it is theirs: gym, outside, board games, drawing, or nothing at all. A ten-year-old who has been at school since eight in the morning is allowed to be off duty.
School holidays, teacher work days and early-release days are covered at no extra charge, because a day off school is not a day off work.
What is included
- Morning and afternoon transport on five routes, in our own vehicles with a certified driver and a second adult
- Breakfast before the bus and a hot snack after school
- Forty-five minutes of homework time with help available, before free time starts
- Full-day care on school holidays, teacher work days and early-release days at no extra charge
- Sign-out by name and photo ID only — no exceptions, including for a parent not on the list
A day in this room
- 6:00 amDoors open, breakfast from 6:15.
- 7:15–7:55 amBuses leave on five routes.
- 3:20–4:10 pmBuses return, hot snack.
- 4:15 pmHomework — forty-five quiet minutes with help available.
- 5:00 pmFree choice: gym, outside, games, art.
- 6:30 pmDoors close.
Schedules and weekly cost
| Schedule | What it means | Per week |
|---|---|---|
| Before and after school | 6:00 am until the bus, and from the bus until 6:30 pm, five days. | $105 |
| After school only | Bus collection from school until 6:30 pm, five days. | $78 |
| Before school only | 6:00 am, breakfast and the bus to school, five days. | $58 |
Plus a one-off $75 registration fee per child, per year. Sibling discount 10%.
Questions about this room
What time do you open and close?
Bright Start is open Monday to Friday, 6:00 am to 6:30 pm, and closed at weekends. There is no early-drop or late-stay surcharge inside those hours — one price covers the day, whether your child is here for six hours or twelve. After 6:30 pm we charge $1 a minute, which exists to protect our staff’s evenings rather than to make money.
How much does it cost?
Weekly tuition at Bright Start runs from $58 for before-school care to $255 for full-time infant care, and every rate is published on the schedules and tuition page. Meals, snacks, materials and school-holiday cover are included. The only extra charges are a $75 registration fee once a year, optional nappies at $12 a week, and late pick-up.
Who is allowed to collect my child?
Only an adult named on your authorised pick-up list, and only with photo identification, every time, including people we know well. You can add or remove names in writing at any time. We will not release a child to an adult who is not on the list — including a parent — and if a court order restricts contact we need a copy on file. If we have a genuine concern about someone’s ability to drive, we will call another authorised adult, and we will not make that a negotiation at the door.
Do you collect from my child’s school?
We run morning and afternoon routes to five nearby elementary campuses in our own vehicles, with a certified driver and a second adult on board, and a name-by-name headcount on and off. If your school is not on the list, call us — if there are enough families we will look at adding a route.
Come and see the room your child would be in.
No appointment needed. Come during the day when the rooms are full, ask what the ratio is right now, and take the answer with you.