Closure of after school club.

[WorkInProgress]

Hi. Has anyone any experience of challenging a councils decision to close an after school club? Ours is being closed (along with others in the area), on the basis that it is not financially viable. However there is no viable alterative as we are a rural area.

Bumping for the evening crowd

no experience, sorry, but we are rural too and face an ongoing battle to keep the after school club going

will be interested to hear from others

If its not financially viable, is that not making a profit or not covering costs? How many children does it actually cater for and the costs?

Parents can get together and run as a charity - must be non profit and you would need to do the payroll for the staff etc but its an option to consider.

Thanks. As I understand it, it is not covering costs. We have been told 20 children are needed to cover costs. Usually there are 7-10 children there, there have been up to 16. The annoucement was made out of the blue - no opportunity was given to see if numbers could be increased. As we are a rural school it is unlikely that 20 children would be possible but the point is there is no alternative. I was trying to find out if there are any grounds to challenge the decision.
Have looked into parents running one, but it can take up to 2 years to get it up and running which isn't really practical, and we would need to fundraise to make up any shortfall.

How much do they charge and presumbly its just two staff. Do you have a preschool that is part of it or does the school have a nursery class of its own?

Do they pay the school to use the premises? If so, perhaps the head can come to an agreement. Having an ASC is a big plus for a rural school should the LEA look at closing it at any point in the future.

A parent taking over and making it a Ltd company is another option, could be quicker.

2 options.

Keep it under 2 hours so no ofsted registration needed. You could then open it tomorrow.

School/governing body run it - Employing staff- so no registration required

Assuming tne school will give you ten space rent free you need approx 2 staff members per hour. Depending on where you are that's £20 including on costs. Some school tas do it as additional hours.

So you need enough children to generate £20 a hour.

Thanks everyone. Will find out general opinion. Was hoping to challenge decision as first step, but I am not sure this affects.