School holidays

The City of Parramatta Council are the largest provider of free school holiday programs in NSW with over 2000+ children per year taking part in a variety of exciting physical and educational programs and workshops.

The objectives of the school holidays program are:

• To provide free and inclusive 'taster' sport and recreation programs for children ages 5 to 18 within the Parramatta LGA.
• To encourage and promote healthy active lifestyles.
• To link participants to and promote local sports and recreation services.

*We aim to make our school holiday programs 100% accessible to children of all abilities. All programs are organised by trained facilitators who can deliver activities that respond to children with a range of needs.

If you have any questions about physical access or inclusion in any of our school holiday activities, please email recreation@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au or call 9806 5037.

The Active Parramatta team’s Spring holiday program can be viewed in the table below. Registrations will open on Wednesday September 25 at 7pm. There are 37 sessions to choose from and spots for over 1200 participants.

Each activity has targeted age groups which is indicated in the activity title. This is listed to indicate the sessions are tailored to the participants different skills and abilities. For activities that are for participants aged 5 to 12 and 10 to 15/16 years the coaches will split the group up into their appropriate ages group. Please make sure you read each registration page carefully as they have been developed to be an information hub for each session. Please be mindful of what classes you are booking into and avoid booking into sessions that are running at the same time.  

_{*** The information regarding sessions date, time and venue is correct at the time of publishing, but very rarely there maybe changes made. Please make sure to check your emails and provide a valid phone number to receive updates.}

How to Register for the School Holiday Programs

Registrations must be completed through our new bookings system Bookable. To make things easier on registration day you can register your account now. This will save you time on the day. Your personal details and children’s details will auto fill once you Log In. 

We have made a video to help you get started on the new system.

If you have any issues, please contact us at recreation@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au

*With the new system we will be very strict on the cancellation policy, and you will lose your space if you continually fail to show for the programs you have booked.

Bookable - Press here to view programs and make bookings

Please read the guidelines to help you with a smooth registration process.

• It is important to dress your child in suitable clothing and footwear appropriate for the activities.
• Please make sure you book into the program that is for your child’s age group. Our programs are tailored to the ages of the children and are in place for a reason. Council reserves the right to cancel bookings if the children do not meet the age requirements.
• Each activity requires your child to bring a drink bottle of water, suitable shoes and a hat (if outdoors).
• Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the activity start time to register your child(ren).
• Please be mindful of what classes you are booking into. This is why the program is published in advanced. There will be a limit of one morning session and one afternoon session per day per family. 
• Due to popularity all our activities are likely to have a waitlist. If you know you are not going to make an activity that you have booked in for, please cancel via Bookable as soon as you are aware you are not going to make it. Your consideration of other community members waiting to get a spot in the activity, so the spots do not go to waste is greatly appreciated.
• Parents or carers are expected to stay for the duration of the activity. The program is not designed to be a child-minding service and it can also be fun to get involved in the class as well. Parents who are working are welcome to bring laptops and work from the facility.
• Please do not bring food that contains or has traces of peanuts or eggs as other children may have allergies. 
• If your child has any special requirements, please make this known during the registration process this enables our team to ensure a quality experience for your child/ren. A council officer maybe in contact to discuss specific requirements. We want to assure the community this information is only communicated to the staff and facilitator to ensure we can plan and accommodate children of all abilities. Some examples of how of our inclusive practices that have been implemented include, the use of modified equipment, rostering on extra facilitators to make the group sizes smaller.   
• Council will communicate any cancellation of activities via email or text message to the contact details you provide during the registration process. 
• Do not forget to provide us your feedback via our survey that will be sent out to you after the school holidays as your feedback is important to maintaining and improving our program. You also go into the draw to win one of three early bird registration vouchers for the next school holiday period. 

If you have any questions, please email Recreation Team recreation@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au if you require a call please leave a phone number. The team is small and during the School Holidays we are out at the programs.