Letter informing parents about the closure of after school club

Oh I didn't know how much Koro Kids would be.
A childminder might be do-able though.

When our playscheme was asked to run the breakfast and after school club we charged £5 a day for afterschool care.

We had volunteer staff so no wages or NI etc. We had a very very low hall hire cost due to being volunteer led. No utilities to pay for and a local businessman paid for our insurance, and our staff training.

Yet we only just broke even after costs. And that was pre covid when prices were lower.

So £8.50 a day now is very low.

We charged £3 an hour last year. It simply wasn’t viable for us and the numbers were too low to make it viable with so little uptake.

Our choices were either close the club completely or increase the price in the hope we would some days break even. We went for the latter but it is still a fine balancing act.

Schools want to try to help families, many school staff rely on wrap around for their own children but it comes at a cost.

It’s staffed by teachers presumably working unpaid overtime

Wow-that's dreadful. I'd be surprised if they didn't all leave at the next possible resignation date.

You need to spend your energy looking for different provision rather than trying to get the decision changed. They're not going to reverse it with 2 weeks to go.

Same thing happened to our after school club a few years ago. Went out of business and closed within a couple of weeks. Worst part was it took hundreds of pounds of peoples money as you had to book in advance. Think we lost about £800.

The school set up its own club recognising that there was no other option for parents and many would move schools. It’s staffed by teachers presumably working unpaid overtime and runs at a loss. They still charge £8 for breakfast club and £15 for after school club though

In a contrast of worlds… the afterschool at DD’s school is oversubscribed for 4 out of 5 days and costs £19 a session. She’s still on the waiting list for 2 days, nearly 18 months after she was allocated a place in reception.

Just out if interest why are 3 staff needed? If there are only say 8 children surely 2 staff is more than adequate. I thought ratios for primary children were 1:8 children? So you could have 2 allowing ratios to be safe if one was using the loo or dealing with a child who'd had an accident or similar?

Mad it’s under subscribed when its so cheap. I was paying more than that over 10yrs ago. I think a lot of parents now have the flexibility if working from home to take a late lunch break to collect children from school, then log back on whilst they watch TV / play video games etc. I suspect that’s why it’s not as viable anymore. Very frustrating to have 2wks to sort new arrangements.

The point is it wouldnt cost them any more money - they would achieve more revenue by attracting more service users.
3 kids paying £8 per hour gives you £24
Reduce the price to £5 per hour and suddenly it becomes affordable for a lot more parents and you attract more kids! If you can attract 10 kids paying £5 an hour thats £50.
They dont seem to see that the reason the numbers are falling is because the price keeps going up, to a point where parents decide its no longer worth the cost.
I used to use our wraparound 2 days a week when i was wfh - it was priced such that it was worth me paying for it. They kept creeping the price up, the last price increase was one too many and i just could not justify it so i and many others stopped using the club.

The costs are enormous. Staff employed by the school have to enrol them in LGPS, which is over 25% contribution. Like every employer they’ve also been hit with NI increase. You need at least 3 staff. A really rough calculation for. 3 hour provision is £145 staff costs, so you need 17 kids for the full 3 hours to break even at £8.50.

To the PP, you may not chose school WA because it’s a cheap option, but many do and go absolutely bananas when rates are increased.

£15.50 sounds like a really fair price for the best part of 3 hours childcare. I was paying similar before Covid and everything has shot up since then. I was just relieved to see an end to nursery bills tbh.

I use Koru Kids and they are great for finding after school Nannie’s (usually uni students). But that costs a lot more than the OP is talking about - I think we pay £18 per hour, including the Koru Fees, tax, NI, pension.

But the more children you have, the more adults need to be employed, so the more it costs. It's not as easy as just increasing the number of children.

Also OP, £8.50 a day sounds like an absolute bargain, I'm not surprised they're closing if that's all they charge.

How would using the setting down the road help? Would they collect your child? Or would you have to pick her up and transport her? I would ask any childminders to do it, but it will be higher than £15.

I’m not surprised it wasn’t viable at £8.50 a day. £15 is the minimum round here, though some offer a shorter session (4.30 say) for £10ish.

only 2 weeks notice of closure is bad though. Worth looking at other schools? Seems very disruptive in the short term but in the long term it may be worth it.

But with ten kids at £5 rather than 3 at £8, another adult would need to be employed.I would imagine they do the sums with a calculator* and a spreadsheet.*

Exactly. School business managers are pretty adept at doing sums!!

10 kids at £5 per hour would not be enough to run the club.

Most parents use after school club because they have to, not because it is cheap.

But with ten kids at £5 rather than 3 at £8, another adult would need to be employed.
I would imagine they do the sums with a calculator and a spreadsheet.

It won't have been an easy decision. It's annoying, and frustrating, but numbers change and the school can't subsidise your childcare.

Too many schools seem to respond to falling numbers by whacking the price of the club up even more.... How do they not see that if they reduced the price far far more people would use the club?!

Schools have no wriggle room left in their budget to do this. If numbers fall, they have to put their price up or close.

Sounds like a pain, what do other parents do? Surely they aren't all picking up at normal time?
Maybe there's some other provision that you're out of the loop on, either childminder or an external club? Could be worth asking around.

Given the difference in price of the alternative provision, have you asked school if they know what price would make it viable on current numbers? Then ask parents currently using the club if they are willing to pay that?

Realistically the school can offer any price up to say £15 and parents may take it as it is more convenient than the children moving site!

Too many schools seem to respond to falling numbers by whacking the price of the club up even more.... How do they not see that if they reduced the price far far more people would use the club?!
Everyone i know is desperately trying to trim hours off their use of the school wraparound because they charge something ridiculous like £8.30 per hour.
Surely better to get 10 kids at £5 an hour than 3 at £8!! How can schools not do these sums 🙄