Help me with my holiday club!

[CathysGhost]

Without the long preamble as to how we got to thia point, my friend and I are considering starting our own holiday childcare club.
We are both late 30s, have our own primary aged kids, both have a PGCE (I use mine, she doesn't) and the relevant experience.
Has anyone done this?
What do parents want /hate /love about these clubs?
Childcare in our area is pretty poor and we are certain we could make a good go of it.
Amy advice /comments /thoughts well received!

My son went to one where they pretty much just let him sit in the corner and read in between trips to the park. He loved that. He wouldn't enjoy being forced to do craft and stuff if he wasn't in the mood.

Starting early is good for me. 8-6 matches wrap around care here. Sports options plus free play/ park/ science would win my dc over, as would medals/prizes!

You really need to do a business plan. The reason the options are poor is because they aren’t sustainable, otherwise everyone would be doing it.

My kids generally hated holiday clubs, so we only used them for odd days here and there. Things that they particularly hated were:

• forced joining in (particularly sporty stuff for DD)
• being treated like they were 5 when they were 9+ (eg "make a lion mask out of a paper plate" rather than "paint some pottery" or "make some jewellery")
• lack of activity choice

Things that I didn't like were:

• the club that allowed DS to spend the whole day sitting watching others play on the Wii
• strict drop off / pick up times (eg if I needed them there 9-3 but they had to be there 9-5 as club wouldn't allow us to pick them up at 4)

Things that we did like:

• lots of choice of activities
• people they knew running it and familiar surroundings (one run by their TAs at their school was best from that point of view)
• availability of wraparound care if needed but not obligatory
• cooking activities
• active things that weren't big team games (eg badminton, trampoline, hula hoops, not just football or hockey)
• ability to book occasional days not just eg whole weeks
• quiet corner with books, colouring, craft, etc
• no forced splitting by age (so DD and DS could be together)

• genuine choice of alternative activities (e.g. a craft activity) rather than having to just sit on the side and watch the game which was on offer
• getting the children involved in choosing between possible activities.
• extending the actual activities into the extension hours, rather than just 'free play'. Combined with lots of kids going, that makes it feel like detention

Thanks all - that really is food for thought.
There is 1 existing sports camp in our area so we were thinking of making ours more 'free' with the choice of activities.

How much does everyone pay per session/week?

Make sure you can accept childcare vouchers as payment.

Choice, free time, outdoor space. DD's has a bouncy castle all day every Friday which the kids love. Loose themes seem to work too - animals, sea, etc.

Definitely 8-6.

No nuts policy, obvs.

Quiet craft activities and reading corners. Plus loads of space to burn off energy.

Very helpful thread watching with interest as options near us tend to just focus on sports, which obviously doesn't suit a lot of children.

My kids hated the fact they were expected to do exercise and crafts - they would have preferred just to watch Disney movies! They didn't like being told what to do - having zones where they can choose would be my suggestion, it's not school and there's a lack of options beyond 10

they would have preferred just to watch Disney movies!

The trouble with clubs doing this is that for every parent ok with their child watching movies all day, there will be 9 or 10 moaning that they're paying for their kids to do something more exciting.

We pay £25 per day for one at school, take packed lunch, limited activities. We pay £50 per day for one at local private school. That includes hot lunch, all snacks, swimming, wide range of excellent activities. My dds also do courses there eg cookery, sewing, bushcraft these are led by external providers.
Key for me is open 8am to 6pm

Mine went to holiday clubs several times a year but we chose ones which covered what they were interested in - tennis, cricket, theatre and science were the ones they enjoyed the most. General arts and crafts, free play would have bored them.

I need to be able to pay with childcare vouchers.
Mube also prefer the club where they are in 8-13 age group (they also have 5-7) and so aren't with little ones.

We pay £25 per day for one at school, take packed lunch, limited activities. We pay £50 per day for one at local private school.

Gosh that's a large difference. Some of the clubs near us are just £15 a day. The £50 club you mention sounds amazing, but I suppose a lot of their expenditure is on paying outside providers.

Yes it is double the cost of the school one but so much better. The school one is just playing outside, some arts and crafts and board games etc. The private school one they swim every day, do sports etc. We do a mixture of the 2, they see their friends at the school one but have a better range of activities at the other

Aswell as long days the option to do shorter days ie 9-4
Activities on and off site
Bowling,cinema,parks,picnics,movie day,cooking there own lunch,going on the bus.
Have people come in and do activities such as dance,music,sports,pottery,science
Think of all ages of children across the board
Let it be relaxed and the children have a choice don’t force them to do arts and crafts if they want to play football
On some days maybe separate the ages and have activities to suit age groups
Make sure you have different areas like chill area,playing area,arts area
Lots of different toys or games for all ages for outside and inside
Try and make it home from home!
Hope that helps x

Option of extended hours 7:30-6:30.

My kids use holiday club and they like the one we have found. It is pretty relaxed, they normally have some craft or cooking to do, can play outside on bikes or scooters, help in the garden. No age segregation and for me flexible pick up, discount rates for more than one child. Only thing I would change would be availability between Christmas and New year

One we use offers half days for a little over half price, which seems quite popular. It also offers little trips when they have fewer children.
Second free-flow rather than compulsory activities.
Get people to commit a few weeks in advance so you can organise staffing.
Will you charge an annual membership fee, a lifetime membership fee, or none at all?
Make it clear whether or not snacks will be provided. If so, consider sending parents a list of snacks so they can indicate which ones their children actually like, which will save waste.

Option of extended hours 7:30-6:30.

This seems to be very important.