Vacation care forms: excursions, transport and bus checks
Vacation care is mostly off-site. That makes the paperwork narrower than people expect: it is excursions and getting there, plus the checks on and off the bus.
Everything else — incidents, medication, illness — is the same as any other day and is listed at the bottom rather than mixed in here.
All 9 forms below are free. Create an account to add any of them to your service.
1.An authorisation for each excursion
Regulation 102 requires written authorisation before taking a child on an excursion, and it has to describe that excursion — where, when, how you are getting there, the ratio, and the risks identified in your risk assessment. A blanket "I consent to excursions" collected at enrolment does not meet it, which is what catches services out when a program has a different destination every day.
Parent permission for a child to attend an excursion. Share one link and get every family's consent back signed.
2.Outings you repeat
If the same outing happens more than once — the same walk to the same park — Regulation 102(5) lets a parent authorise it once for a period rather than every time. Worth setting up at the start of the program for anything recurring, so you are only chasing signatures for the one-off trips.
Parent authorisation for a child to attend recurring outings organised by the childcare service.
3.Transport consent, separately
Transport is its own authorisation under Regulation 102D, not part of the excursion one. If the same transport arrangement runs across the whole program you can authorise it once. Collect it alongside the excursion authorisation — chasing two signatures from the same parent on two different days is how a child ends up unable to board.
Parent authorisation for regular transportation of a child by the childcare service.
4.Checks on and off the bus
Regulations 102E and 102F require the driver and an educator to each check the vehicle as children embark and disembark, and to record it. This is the one people skip when they are running late, and it is the one that ends careers. Do it on a phone at the door of the bus so the record is made at the moment of the check rather than reconstructed that evening.
Staff checklist to ensure all children are safely accounted for when boarding a vehicle.
Staff checklist to ensure all children are safely accounted for when disembarking a vehicle.
Also worth having
Not part of this job, but they come up. Add them separately if you need them.
Record and track incidents, injuries, trauma and illness involving children as required by Australian childcare regulations.
Record medication administered to a child including dosage, witness details, and required signatures.
Record and document illness incidents involving children including symptoms, first aid, and medication details.
Record anaphylaxis emergencies including symptoms, adrenaline autoinjector administration, and emergency response.
Also called
- Vacation care forms
- School holiday program forms
- Vac care excursion forms
- Holiday program permission forms
- OSHC excursion paperwork
Common questions
Do I need a separate authorisation for every vacation care excursion?
Yes, unless it qualifies as a regular outing. Regulation 102 requires the authorisation to describe the specific excursion — where, when, how you are travelling, the ratio and the identified risks — so one authorisation cannot cover a program of different destinations. A repeated outing can be authorised once under Regulation 102(5).
Is transport covered by the excursion authorisation?
No. Transport is authorised separately under Regulation 102D. You also need the embarking and disembarking checks under Regulations 102E and 102F — each done by both the driver and an educator, and recorded.
What about enrolment for children who only attend vacation care?
A child attending only vacation care still needs a full enrolment record under Regulation 160. If they already attend your service, you do not re-enrol them, but the record has to be current — see the enrolment guide.
Written as general guidance for Australian education and care services. It is not legal advice, and it may not reflect the latest amendments — check the Education and Care Services National Regulations and your regulatory authority for the current position.
Other guides
Enrolling a child: the forms you need
The enrolment record itself, plus the booking, emergency contacts, medical conditions and standing authorisations that go with it.
Daily records: what educators fill in as things happen
The records your staff complete during the day — incidents, illness, medication given, and observations of children’s learning.
Forms parents and guardians fill in
Every form you send out to families — enrolment, permissions, collection arrangements, medication authority and feedback.
Forms your educators fill in
The records staff complete — incidents and illness, medication given, observations, safety checks and transport.