School Holiday Clubs - Advice Please CM's

[RosieGirl]

There is an advertisement in my local magazine for childcare during the summer holidays. It will be using a "local hall" which isn't currently set up for use as a nursery or pre-school, it has been split into two age groups 2-3 or 3-8 and the cost is £37 for the 2-3 and £18 for 3-8 for a 10 hour day.

It says nothing about quailfied staff, ratios, CRB checks or whether they will be following the EYFS.

I'm not sure of the rules for holiday clubs, do they have to be registered with OFSTED and do they still have to comply with the EYFS.

The age groups concerned me and the prices amazed me, as a local registered childminder it makes me look increadibly expensive. Should I look into this more or I am just being sour because of the cost . Seriously I am concerned, but not sure of the rules governing these clubs any info gratefully recevied.

As the care is on commercial premises and is for up to 10 hours a day, then the holiday club should be registered with Ofsted as per usual as far as I am aware.

I can not see it meeting the criteria for exemption - Ofsted Factsheet: Registration Not Required

£18 for 10 hours does look cheap... what are the catches? I would guess that children must come with a packed lunch.

You could find out more about what they are offering, what is and isn't included in the price. Then see how you can make your service more appealing to parents, even if you do charge more.

If you are concerned that it might not be registered, check it out on the Ofsted website. They would come under childcare on non-domestic premises.

If you think it should be registered, try emailing Ofsted about it. They can check their systems as well, and if they aren't but sound like they are providing registerable care then Ofsted'll soon get in touch with the people running it to chase them up.

One of my mindees got a flyer at school for a holiday club that charges £15 per day from 8 - 5.30pm, makes me look like Harrods.

These clubs do need to be registered and still go under Ofsted & LA rules, so if you have concerns check first, I would imagine that if they are advertising a key selling feature would be qualified staff, first aid trained, ofsted registered etc. Sounds a bit odd that it isn't mentioned in the advert.

Oh and I think you should look into it, and if you had posted this in AIBU I would say YANBU and I am sour about these cheapy clubs too, Nannynick the £15 a day one is packed lunch, but snacks are provided.

I decided to look into it as it just doesn't feel right, I e-mailed the person on the advert asking if they were OFSTED registered, what their ratio's were, especially mixing 3-8 year olds, if they were working on the EYFS and I still haven't had a response, so have contacted OFSTED to ask their rules and will send the information on if necessary. I'm not just doing it out of spite, but I do feel concerned for people who don't know any different thinking it must be above board because they are advertising in a "quality" local magazine.

The main exemption that holiday clubs sometimes slip through is this one:

"If you provide no more than two activities from the following list.
*School study support or homework support
SportPerforming arts
*Arts and crafts
*Religious, cultural or language study

This only applies if you care for children who are aged three and over, and you do not care for children aged under five for more than four hours in any one day. Any care provided is incidental (not the main focus of) to the provision."

So a "sports club" that only has over threes and limits the hours they have younger children doesn't need to register with Ofsted, which I think is silly. Fine exempt them from the learning requirements, but even if they are just doing sports they still need to meet basic welfare standards!

That's even before you get to the "sports clubs" that also do arts and crafts and sit the children in front of a DVD for a while, and have storytime... that's just a standard childcare provision hiding from registration!