The origins of before and after school care at Greenwich Public School seem to date back to late 1986 ^[1].

Prior to October 2000, GOOSH, like Greenwich Public School, operated from two sites [2]

• The Uniting Church in Carlotta Street, Greenwich;   and
• A demountable classroom on the Greenwich Public School Primary site on Kingslangley Road.

Carlotta St Centre

GOOSH’s first site was at the Uniting Church in Carlotta Street.

Before and after school care operated at this site for more than ten years.  GOOSH was housed in a room attached to the rear of the church which could accommodate approximately 15 children. The site had basic kitchen facilities and two outside toilets. There was a small grassed area at the back of the site used for outdoor play.

GOOSH rented this room & the external area from the Uniting church.

Kingslangley Rd Centre

GOOSH’s second site was at Greenwich Public School in Kingslangley Road.

After school and vacation care operated at this site for more than 5 years.  GOOSH was housed in a

demountable towards the back of the school which could accommodate approximately 30 children.  The room had basic kitchen facilities. The primary school grounds were used for outside play.

The demountable was not then used as a classroom by Greenwich Public School.

A permanent home

In 1996 the GOOSH management committee started to look at amalgamating the 2 centres and how best to obtain a ‘permanent’ home on a single site.  With GOOSH finances secure enough, 1996 was the last year that the centre was subsidised by the Lane Cove Council ².

Finally on 16 August 1999, after much hard work by the GOOSH management committee, led by Leanne Keene (president), GOOSH secured a grant of $90,000 from the Lane Cove Council [3].  These funds were provided for GOOSH to acquire a building to be located on the Infants School site on Greenwich Road.

On 9 November 1999, the School Council agreed to the installation of a building on the Infants site for use by GOOSH.  Building commenced in August 2000 and finally, in October 2000 the building that we know as GOOSH opened its doors.  GOOSH was home.