Summer Holiday Programmes
Kia ora,
Christmas Day is only 41 days away, so here’s some helpful information for you to consider over the long weekend!!
After feedback from our recent survey, and in discussions with staff, school close dates, balancing annual leave and other work commitments, these are the dates we’ve locked in for our Summer Holiday Programmes:
- 17th -19th December 2025
- 19th – 23rd January 2026
- 26th – 30th January 2026
Bookings are now LIVE on aimyplus, via the AimyMe app or on the website: https://yat.aimyplus.com
2026 Changes!!!
Everything will stay the same for our December programmes but from January 2026, there are a number of changes we’re making:
- With no price increase for 2 years, we’ve needed to increase the price of our programmes to help cover increasing costs of activities, overheads and staffing. A standard day is increasing by $2 from $40 to $42 and an outing day will increase by $3 from $45 to $48. Extension days will increase by just $1 from $12 to $13.
- We are changing the official finish time of holiday programmes to align with the finish time of most schools, finishing at 3:00pm. Previously we’ve had a rolling finish from 3:00pm – 3:30pm, but now our rolling finish will be from 2:40pm – 3:00pm (unless notified otherwise). Extension programme will start from 3:00pm and pick ups can be anytime before 5:45pm.
- We have continued to be stung by some parents not paying for holiday programmes they’ve attended, and we have not been able to collect their debt. Therefore we are changing the process of booking holiday programmes, asking everyone to pay in advance of their bookings. If paying with EzyPay, we will see your payment right away. If paying via bank transfer, please be patient, until our accounts staff member can reconcile the payment, and then let us know to confirm payment. Kirsti doesn’t work everyday, so this will only be done periodically. Oscar applicants will continue to be confirmed only once we have signed the paperwork. If you’re child is ill or a booking needs to change, and we are given 24 hours notice were possible, we are happy to reimburse or credit your account, minus a 15% administration fee (according to our Terms and Conditions). Please email: accounts@yat.org.nz for any accounting enquiries, or rego@yat.org.nz for any registration changes.
Our Pe-Christmas Holiday Programme in a combined ages programme, with some split activities on the days. January Programmes are split into the normal 3 age groups:
- Pre-Christmas Holiday Programme (School Years 1-9) – including a Sailing Trip and some Christmas Adventures.
- January Kea (School Years 1-3) – including Peddlemania, Orana Park & Laser Strike.
- January Pukeko (School Years 4-6) – including Jellie Park, Ninja Valley & Living Springs.
- January Piwakawaka (School Years 6-9) – including a Escape Rooms, Spencer Park & Quail Island.
Website link:
www.yat.org.nz/holiday-programmes/holiday-programme-years-1-9/
Summer School Transition Years: You can choose to stay in the Year Group your child has been in 2025 OR move them into the next age group BUT please chose one of the other, not both programmes, to make it fair on others booking, and also help with continuity of relationships with leaders. Please contact us if there are exceptional circumstances.
Note: Activities are subject to change, due to weather, staffing or other circumstances.
Priority Bookings
Youth Alive Trust are only accepting bookings from previous families who have registered for our programmes in the past 12 months up until 12noon Wednesday 19th November. This is to provide time for our regulars to make a booking, so they don’t miss out. After 12noon Wednesday, we will accept bookings from anyone else.
Oscar Subsidy
Check out if you’re eligible for government subsidies – it keeps going up! If you have 3 or more children, you now need to be earning more than $3,004 per week to not be eligible for any support. If you have 2 children, you need to be earning more than $2,670 per week and if just 1 child, $2,336 per week (gross). Many probably don’t realise they will qualify, if they just jump through a few bits of paperwork. The subsidy is only for those in work or study who need childcare. Click on the link below for full information about applying for the subsidy:
Out of School Care and Recreation (OSCAR) Subsidy – Work and Income
Booking Confirmation Policy
If you click that you’re applying for a government subsidy, then YAT’s policy is to only ‘confirm’ your booking once we’ve received your completed WINZ forms. We need to sign your form, so this can be dropped off at reception anytime in office hours, and we can send the paperwork to WINZ for you. OR, once we’ve signed it, we can take a copy, in case WINZ loose it (which does happen) and you can take it all into WINZ yourself.
Your booking will sit in the ‘Pending’ category for a week, until we’ve seen the paperwork. If we’ve not seen the paperwork, there is a chance your booking will be cancelled unless you get in touch to explain circumstances: rego@yat.org.nz
A reminder that you and we often don’t find out about how much WINZ will contribute to your holiday programme fees until after the programme, so you are responsible for any shortfall to be paid as soon as possible.
Bookings
All Bookings are done online at: https://yat.aimyplus.com or by using the AimyMe Parent App.
Here’s a reminder of how to make a booking after logging in:
– Click on ‘Make a booking’
– Select childs name
– Choose Programme Venue: ‘Youth Alive Oscar’
– Select ‘Holiday Programme’ & click ‘Next’
– Chose either “Term 4 Holiday 2025” or “Summer Holiday Programme 2026” to view options
– Select the days you’re keen to attend, by clicking “Book” on each day, for either standard or extension day.
– Click ‘Next’, ’Next’ and ’Confirm’
There are 3 options for payment at the time of booking:
- Pay Now through EzyPay: Visa or Mastercard – Credit or Visa Debit (2.5% charge by EzyPay)
- Bank Transfer (no fee for you). Please reference ‘HP’ and ‘Your Name’ – we won’t confirm booking until payment is made.
- WINZ Client. You will need to input your client number into your profile before choosing this option. As above, it will stay ‘PENDING’ for a week until we have signed the paperwork.
Feedback
We appreciate any feedback on our programmes and have a short general parents feedback survey you can complete anytime. Positive comments made are also really helpful for us when applying for funding:
Any issues or questions about programmes, registrations or cancelations, please email us at: rego@yat.org.nz
Any finance questions, please email us at: accounts@yat.org.nz
Nga Mihi
The YAT Team
PS: Did you come to out Family Fun Night? Check out the Photo Album and Highlights Video.
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