{"id":31265,"date":"2026-06-08T10:34:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=oasis-news&#038;p=31265"},"modified":"2026-05-26T17:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T09:05:03","slug":"mycurtinstory-chamika-carnabykids","status":"publish","type":"oasis-news","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/oasis-news\/mycurtinstory-chamika-carnabykids\/","title":{"rendered":"How Carnaby Kids takes the stress out of school holidays as a parent at uni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-intro-font-size\">Balancing study with work and childcare is no easy feat. For Chamika, school holidays became that little bit easier with Carnaby Kids. | Reading time: 2 min<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While completing her Master of Professional Accounting, Chamika discovered Carnaby Kids, a sports-based school holiday program right here on campus, designed for children aged 5 to 13 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chamika first heard about Carnaby Kids through another parent from school before learning more through Curtin Sport and Recreation. What started as a practical childcare solution for school holidays quickly became something much more valuable for both her and her son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cMy son is very active and loves sports, and Carnaby Kids has provided a great environment for him to play, stay engaged, and develop his confidence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Held at Curtin Stadium, Carnaby Kids offers a full day of sport and recreational activities for children of all interests and energy levels, focusing on confidence-building and fun in a safe and supportive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The active nature of the program was exactly what Chamika&#8217;s son needed. The structure of different sports being on different days kept him excited to come back each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p><em>\u201cI think it is the perfect place for him rather than a normal daycare, and that\u2019s why we keep coming back to Carnaby Kids. When kids go to normal daycare, they do some study-related activities, but I believe holidays should be fun! And my son just wants to sleep when we go home. That makes parenting easy.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The convenience and affordability of the program also helped make balancing uni, work and parenting more manageable. Located on campus, Carnaby Kids allows parents to stay close by throughout the day &#8211; at an affordable price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cCarnaby Kids has been a huge support during my studies, giving me peace of mind knowing my child is in a safe and caring environment, doing what he loves to do. With the extended timing of 8:30am to 4:30pm, I had time before and after work for drop off and pick up, which made everything much more comfortable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Chamika\u2019s biggest piece of advice to other parents is about learning to balance competing priorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cThere are quite a lot of commitments in life &#8211; family, study, work. You have to prioritise your time and prioritise your tasks. Planning ahead is something that I need to do as a student and a worker and a mum.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" data-id=\"31272\" src=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-1000x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-1000x500.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-740x370.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-480x240.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-1260x630.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-1520x760.jpg 1520w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9131-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" data-id=\"31273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-1000x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-1000x500.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-740x370.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-480x240.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-1260x630.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-1520x760.jpg 1520w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAR_9421-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-df-font-size\">Are you looking for an engaging school holiday option for your kids? Register for the upcoming\u00a0Makuru\u00a0program, running <strong>Monday 6 July &#8211; Friday 17 July 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<section          class=\"block button-block\" role=\"complementary\" aria-label=\"Button block\"\n         data-segment=\"all\">\n\n        \n<div class=\"block-heading hidden\" data-segment=\"dom\">\n                                <h2 class=\"block-heading__title \" id=\"button-block\">Button block<\/h2>\n            \n                        \n                        \n                            <\/div>\n\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/sport\/social-sport-play\/kids-holiday-program\/\" class=\"button button--black\" target=\"_blank\">Learn More<\/a>    \n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Balancing study with work and childcare is no easy feat. For Chamika, school holidays became [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4478,"featured_media":31266,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_oasis-categories":0,"footnotes":""},"oasis-categories":[],"class_list":["post-31265","oasis-news","type-oasis-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1-1-1-1000x840.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Ryan","display_name":"Christina Ryan"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 13:12:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/31265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/oasis-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/31265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-categories?post=31265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}