After School Care

[JellyM]

hi

Quick question about after school care provided in primary schools, I don't mean football training or school choir etc I just mean where children are looked after whilst parents are still at work etc. Do your schools organise this or do they have an external company come in to arrange all of this? Also how much per day do you pay for this?

Thanks

My school has an outside company in there...they have a room set aside. I think it's about 7 pounds a session.

Cost is £6.50 per day from 3.15-5.30
Its held on site for our school, but they have a walking bus that brings them in from 2 other schools as well
It was a mini business, but is just about to be incorporated intot he school

My school has after school care provided by a separate (parent run) organisation. They use a room within the school for it. It costs £8.50 per session per child.

mine is a private company as well. is 11 quid per session and runs till 6pm

Ours is run by the school in fact the TA's staff it. It costs £2.50 per hour and runs until 6pm, Breakfast club starts at 8am.

I have heard a rumour that ours is going to close soon - it is currently run externally. School run a breakfast club but after school is external and I just wanted to guage opinion as to whether the club should be run by school. I will have to start searching for childminders and I dont reckon ds is going to like that as his friends wont be there. :( I will wait for it to become official then chat to other parents to see if when can come up with another solution.

thanks for your replies

There has to be some sort of after-school care that you can access (not necessarily at your own school), so I would ask the school where it is first before you approach childminders.

When you say that there " has to be some sort of care you can access" Childminder places are included in that figure. An afterschool club would not be eligible for local authority support and start up grants if sufficient spaces are already available through Childminding provision.

Childminders are often more qualified than playworkers and offer more flexibility. Eg I currently care for a 9 yr old from 7:30 am till 7pm as mum has a long commute.

Please do not disregard this this type of Childcare as there is a wealth of statistical evidence that demonstrates it's benefits to children and families.

Sorry if it sounded that I was against childminders! They would always be my first choice, but the op said that her child would miss his friends hence my comment.

Ours was a charity but is now a business.

If parents truly want the club to stay then they can approch other providers and see if they will extend to another club (what we did) or if you can form a commitee you can set up as a charity and keep the existing staff on (presuming they want to stay). Charity ran clubs are better where little turnover as they dont have to run at a profit and can simply just cover staff costs, rent etc.