Keating Out-of-School Care

06/15/2026

Just a reminder that Wednesday, June 17th is our annual KOSC Family Fun Night!

This event will run from 5:30pm to 7:30pm here on Ecole Keating Elementary school grounds. There will be a barbecue run by our friends at Central Saanich Lions Club as well as many fun activities including a bouncy castle, obstacle course, face painting, carnival games, and so much more! All KOSC families are welcome and there is no cost.

As a quick heads up, this year we are not doing the ticket system/prize booth -- we have found that it leads to huge lineups and chaos at the end of the night as everyone tries to cash out their tickets at the same time, children getting upset because we're out of whatever prize they were hoping to get, etc. We are planning to have some little pre-made prize bags that children can grab at the end of the evening instead. :-)

After School Care will be provided until 6:00pm as usual; however, if at all possible, we encourage parents to pick up by 5:15pm in order to facilitate a smooth transition into Family Fun Night.

If you have signed up to bake cupcakes, please drop them off at the KOSC Lower Building on Wednesday morning if possible (but if you can't drop them off until later in the day, that's totally fine too, just let us know). Please make sure to label any tupperwares/containers so we know who to return them to after the event. :-)

We hope to see you there!

06/08/2026

Just a heads up that Lions Hall kiddos will be staying here at the main Keating site today and combining with the Galaxy Room due to low numbers of children and staff. Given the current downpour, they probably will not mind getting to avoid the walk down to Lions Hall!

Please note that we typically send all remaining children from the DRC rooms down to the KOSC Lower Building around 5:00pm, so if you are arriving to pick up your child after 5:00, I recommend going directly to the Lower Building to sign out. In the event that the DRC children are running slow and haven't joined the Lower Building group yet, we can radio for them to be sent down. :-)

06/01/2026

Due to low staff and child numbers, we are combining the Lions Hall and Galaxy Room groups today (Monday June 1st). Accordingly, Lions Hall children will be staying on site at Keating and can be signed out at the Galaxy Room.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

05/06/2026

Just a friendly reminder to please let us know if your child who ordinarily attends KOSC on Wednesday afternoons will be absent today due to cross country -- many thanks to all the parents who have already done so. :-)

04/28/2026

Just a heads up that we are going to be running sign-ups today (Tuesday, April 28th).

After pickup and attendance are complete, KOSC leaders will offer a handful of activity choices. Each activity will be held in one of the seven other rooms on site. This is a great way for children to make new friends and get acquainted with more KOSC leaders.

Children who would normally be in the Lions Hall for the afternoon will remain onsite at Keating today.

When you pick up your child this afternoon, they likely will not be in their typical room with their usual leaders. All KOSC leaders will have radios to help locate your child's room.

If you have any questions about sign-ups, please let me know.

(Apologies if this posts twice - Facebook is being persnickety today.)

04/25/2026

Our summer program calendars are now live! Registration for both KOSC Summer Camp and the Youth Adventure Program will open at 7:00am on Friday, May 1st.

KOSC camps are open to all school-aged children in the Greater Victoria area, not just children who attend our Before and After School Care programs, so if you know any families who are looking for an affordable summer camp option that offers extended program hours, flexible daily registration, and tons of fun activities, please feel free to pass along this information!

Registration for our two summer programs — KOSC Summer Break Camp and the Youth Adventure Program — will open at 7:00am on Friday, May 1st, 2026. I am excited to share information about…

04/23/2026

Here are a few important notes for this afternoon's talent show!

First and foremost, Lions Hall is staying on site. If your child typically goes to Lions Hall for After School Care, they will instead be here at Keating.

Children who are participating in the talent show will be brought to the gymnasium as soon as possible after checking in with their leaders. Children who are not participating in the talent show will be brought to the gymnasium around 3:20-3:25pm so that they can enjoy the performances and cheer on their friends!

Audience members will be expected to be quiet and respectful. Children who are being disruptive will be reminded of behavioural expectations; if the disruptive behaviour persists, they will be escorted to the DRC Building to hang out with leaders. Likewise, if any children are finding the gymnasium to be too overstimulating or are feeling restless, they can ask to go back to the DRC building, as well.

There will be a short intermission around 4:20pm while the second set of acts is being set up so that the audience members can move around, stretch their legs, visit the washroom, etc.

To avoid too much confusion, we are asking that parents do NOT come to Lower Building for pick-ups today if possible. If you are arriving to pick up your child during the show (3:30-5:30pm), please feel free to come directly to the gymnasium and watch the performances; just please ensure that you check in with a leader and sign your child out of care before leaving. Otherwise, you can come to the DRC building and check in with the leaders there; they will be able to radio your child from the gym down to the DRC building.

If you need to reach us during the talent show, please call or text the KOSC cell phone (250-415-2035).

We are looking forward to seeing all of our very talented KOSC performers! A big thank you to leaders Lauren H and Sive for organizing this fun event. :-)

11/05/2025

This is just a friendly heads up to let you know that moving forward, leaders will be bringing all children who are still in care at 5:00pm (EXCEPT for Lions Hall children) into the KOSC Lower Building. This is a practice that we have done in the past, and we are reinstating it now.

There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, we generally have fewer than 24 children total left in care at 5:00pm, so it is a more efficient use of staff to combine these children into a single group requiring only two leaders in ratio (which frees up other staff to focus on cleaning and end-of-day tasks), rather than having the children divided between seven different rooms and needing a leader supervising each room. During the winter months, it also reduces the need for children to be radioed from one location to the other when it is dark outside.

If you will be arriving to sign out your child after 5:00pm, please come to the KOSC Lower Building to sign them out. The sign-in sheet is just inside the large double doors in Mountain Room.

Again, this does NOT apply to children at the Lions Hall location. If your child is in Lions Hall for After School Care, they will still be signed out at the Lions Hall location.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

10/24/2025

We are excited to announce that the Lions Hall Haunted House will be running next Thursday (October 30th) during After School Care! More details, including a rough schedule of which groups are going at what times, will be provided next week, but here is some general information.

The Haunted House typically runs from roughly 3:45-5:00pm. We will be walking the children in After School Care down to the Haunted House in groups, spacing them out every 15-20 minutes to avoid overcrowding. Leaders will be enforcing proper safety precautions, including road crossings when necessary, and will review safe practices with the children prior to leaving KOSC.

Parents of children who are not attending KOSC on Thursday afternoon may bring children to the Haunted House -- we will slot you into the next available tour. The address is 6994 East Saanich Road. Any child who is not registered for a space at KOSC must have a parent or other adult present on site for the duration of the tour.

The Haunted House is run by kids for kids, so it is not intended to be super scary, but we recognize that children have different tolerance when it comes to spooky things, and no child will be forced to go through the Haunted House if they do not wish to do so. We will have leaders posted in the entry foyer of the Lions Hall to hang out with any children who don't feel like going through the Haunted House.

We are looking forward to a fun and not-too-scary time! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

10/20/2025

A friendly reminder that KOSC will be having its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, October 22nd at 8:00pm. All KOSC members are welcome and encouraged to attend to participate in the election of the Board of Directors.

The AGM will be preceded by a regular Board meeting at 7:30pm, which members of KOSC are also welcome to attend, but this is strictly optional, so don't feel any obligation to arrive before 8pm.

This meeting will take place in person in the KOSC Lower Building; however, a Zoom link will be available for anyone who is unable to attend in person and would like to participate virtually. A link has been sent via email to current members; if you did not receive the email and would like the Zoom link, please contact Rachel ([email protected]).

If you would like to receive an information package for the meeting, please contact our Board President, Janis Goard, at [email protected].

We hope that you will join us on Wednesday evening!