After school club

[Chipnpotato]

I'm interested to understand the experiences of those using wraparound care when provided in house by the school. For context my two are in after school club 4 days per week at a cost of £35.75 (£18.25 and £17.50) per day. This is till 6pm and includes a light snack. The fees are I think somewhat average for a south east primary school, a little on the high side perhaps and this coupled with the inflexibility is what I'm finding hard to stomach. There are no cancellations allowed at all unless you are cancelling your "permanent" space and then you have to give 4 weeks notice. Bookings are made at the start of each academic year for the academic year. There's no flexibility on this; no credits for residential trips, illness, meet the teacher/open class afternoons etc. I'm assuming this is common but thought I'd ask here. Thank you.

£6 per session, 3:30 to 5:15. Snack provided. Tue/Wed/Thur only. No need to book in advance. Book only the days you want. I do a couple a term, as and when I need them. Hadn’t realised how lucky we are with cost and flexibility. Breakfast club 8:30 - 9:15, free. Rural Wales.

It's interesting to see the differing experiences. I'd love more flexibility and would be happy to pay the same costs. An ad hoc cancellation with notice so that the space could be used by others seems reasonable to me. My sense is the administration of such a scheme poses a challenge that the school don't want to deal with or can't figure out how to manage.

I fully expect that costs should be covered but I don't think the intent of such provision should be to turn a profit.

The DfE states schools can't make a profit on after school clubs. I very much doubt they are.

The DfE states schools can't make a profit on after school clubs. I very much doubt they are.

Lambeth. Breakfast club is £2.50 and runs from 8am-9am. Booked by the day, up to the day before.

ASC has two options. There are clubs booked by the term (ie every Tuesday is EYS+KS1 Film Club and KS2 basketball club) which run 15:30-16:45 and cost £10 a week. There is also “normal” ASC (free play either indoors or outdoors) which can be booked by the day, up to the day before, and runs 15:30-18:00 for £15. Includes a snack (sandwich/wrap/pizza and fruit). You can top up the clubs for £5 if you need your child to stay until 6pm.

You used to be able to cancel up to the day before as well (except for the termly clubs) but the school recently switched to a new system and now you can’t. Overall pretty happy with it though.

£17-ish can't actually remember the new charges. Yes if you have a permanent place arrangement you have to give half a term notice to cancel. You can book ad hoc sessions online though so you could book week by week and just risk them being full.

Thanks @TheWoodpecker

That's really interesting. It's staffed by two adults and a handful of A level students from the local sixth form. Food is a few slices (seriously) of apple, a cracker or rice cake for first snack and then crumpets, jam/ham/cheese sandwiches I believe.

Minutes from a board of governors meeting read that ASC is a positive income stream for the school. On one day of the week just ASC fees alone at a minimum are almost £700.00.

£11 per session in SW London at a private pre-prep, including a pretty substantial tea. Sessions can be booked ad-hoc, weekly or termly but all have a 7 day cancellation policy. And whilst it’s onsite it’s run by an external provider so pretty sure the school isn’t subbing it. I think yours sounds really expensive and annoyingly inflexible.

Perhaps something to challenge then.

I’ve never used ours as the waiting list is 3 years long. Unless you book it prior to starting in Reception, it’s bad luck ! Can’t wait until high school.

Fairly leafy Home Counties village primary. We can book up to 48 hours in advance, to guarantee a spot mid week you need to do it with a week or so’s notice. Generally if you contact them up to 48 hours in advance then you can change your slot to another day if something comes up. This is more an exception though and I don’t think I they’d accept it if you tried to change all the time.

It’s around £17 with a hot meal. 15.15 - 18.00. It is run by the school themselves. I am very grateful for the flexibility!

Gosh. I'm in SW and ours is £10.50 until 6 and you can book and cancel until the day before.

Breakfast is £4.50, and ASC is £6.50 until 4.30pm or £10 until 6pm. We can’t cancel once it’s booked, but we can book sessions with just 48 hours notice, and it’s never full.