Setting up after-school clubs

[Hamble]

The school I'm sending my ds to doesn't have a breakfast club or after school club. Has anyone ever set up these clubs from scratch?

[mummytojames]

i have never heared of it but you could get together with some of the other parents and discuss doing something like this with the fine weather coming you should be able to do trips to the park and stuff but in the bad weather you would have to find suitable place for them and also yoou will need to disuss funding for things like paints and balls
hth

[goosey]

this has a lot of info on setting up childcare establishments, including out of school clubs.

[tabitha]

Hi Hamble,

I set one up from scratch at my kid's last school 7 years ago. It was lots of hard work and I think if I'd known at the start just what was involved I might not have bothered.
But I'm glad that I did. I got a real buzz from 'my club' and lots of satisfaction from having 'made it work'. I also made lots of friends through it and we had many a boozy committee meeting although this was when the club was up and running rather than in the fraught early days.
The Ofsted site goosey refers to will give you lots of info. I would also advise contacting your local council to see what they can do to help, both financially and for advice. In our area (Edinburgh) they didn't, at that time, give a huge ammount of financial help but let us use school premises free after the school day had finished. Contact other established clubs for help. Even things like looking at the club rules / constituion etc can give you ideas, both of things you want for your club and for things you don't. Get in touch with social work (Social Services in England, I think) as there are loads of regulations involving organisations working with children, including child protection issues, access for children with special needs etc, etc. Fortunately, we had a tame social worker on our management committee who helped a lot.
Probably the first thing to do would be to establish what the demand for an after school club (I'm sure it will be there) and also what other parents would be willing to help. In our case, the school newsletter invited interested parents to an initial meeting in the school and it took off from there.
It also helps to get the school and particularly the janitor / caretaker on your side.
If you have any specific questions you want to ask, fire away and I'll do my best to help. I'm away for the weekend but will look at this thread on Monday when I get back.

[Janh]

ds2's school has an after-school club, which has recently extended to a breakfast club. They have a huge advantage in that the school has a Portakabin, which means that the club can function there independently of the school building when it is locked up. On fine days the kids can play outside in the playground; in the winter they were allowed to use the school hall for a limited amount of time before lock-up, as long as it wasn't in use for anything else.

They use half the Portakabin, previously it was just the music room and there is still a piano there and it is still used for music, but the club decorated it, carpeted etc; it is a lovely bright cosy place and the kids seem very happy. (ds2 goes one afternoon a week just for fun!)

It was set up by 2 or 3 parents, whose first move was a questionnaire to parents to establish level of interest. It seemed to take a long time from questionnaire to opening, but was probably only about 12 months if that. They are still involved but don't do day-to-day running; one of the women who used to be nursery nurse in Reception is in charge and there are 3 (I think) girls who help.

[Hamble]

Thanks for you advice. I'll prepare myself for some hard slog, do some reading and find some other interested parents to help get things moving.

[kalex]

have to agree with tabitha, did this last year with 5 friends, it has been the most streesful thing that I have done in a long time, but at the end of it, my ds 6 is very happy at the club.

We are the only club in the area who are not council run, and the freedom that gives us and the staff and then ulimately the kids is great.

Unfortunately, the downside, after a yar during the easter hols we had 2 mmbers of staff resigned & we have decided that we will hand it over.

The stress levels of having a call at work that a member of staff is sick or cannot turn up is awful! But more and more councils are not particulary interested in setting them up. but will take them over once they are established.

On a positive note: It is a lovely feeling to have such a direct input into who looks after your child, AND the boozy nights are great. I was the only sinlge parent, so all commitee meetings were at my house. It almost felt like I had a social lif :0

[Hamble]

Following a link from the suggested website, I discovered www.4children.org.uk where I found a book that tells you how to go about setting up a club from scratch. I've just ordered a copy.