After school clubs cost

[Muminthegarden]

Hello.

I am thinking of starting an after school club from
3.30-5.00pm, the child to adult numbers would be 10:1, the cost would be £15. They would be following a curriculum learning a skill- such as painting, drama, singing, gardening.

Does this price seem reasonable? Alternatively I was thinking £10 for 1hr, but thought the extra £5 for a 5pm pick up might be useful.

London based btw! Xx

5 seems quite an early finish if people are using it because they’re at work. Obviously fine for some people but others will need it to go later.
Are you doing food?

We pay 16 in London and it runs until 6:30.

15 until 5 feels like a lot in comparison

Our babysitter charges 12/hr so I could get her to do it - 2:1 ratio for our children for the same rate you're thinking

That’s a good point! Do you know what happens for kids that go to an after school activity based club day from 3.30-4.30pm but their parents can’t get them until 6pm, I’d imagine they go to the wrap around care generic after school club for all from 4.30-6pm? If you have any idea do let me know!

Also with food I was thinking the could maybe bring a snack? Let me know your thoughts on that.

My child is 3, so I’m still in nursery timings, so not sure on primary school!

thanks so much for responding by the way!

We’re in London and pay £18/day for the wrap around care which runs from 3.30 - 6 at the school. There are also separate after school clubs (French club, football club, cooking club, craft club) which run for an hour are are between £7-12 per session depending on the type of club). On that basis, it seems reasonable but I would add that for most working parents, an after school activity that just runs until 5pm isn’t very useful as it’s often difficult to get there in time if you work a standard 9-5. When DS does the activity clubs at school, he then goes to the standard wraparound afterwards. All of this is based at his school so it’s very easy to manage for us. Would you pick children up from school? I know some of the non-school based clubs in our area do that. Without that, it’s not going to work for working parents either.

Yeah they go to the after school club.

At my DD’s old school, you used to pay less at the after school club if you only needed 4:30-6:00, (compared to 3:30-6:00), because your child was at a school-run activity club.
The best thing about that after school club was the flexibility. You could pay for 3:30-6:00, 4:30-6:00, or pay just until 5 and they didn’t get food. And you could book the whole term if you needed it, or ad hoc seasons could be booked up until midday on the day you needed it (if there were spaces, which generally there were).

Thanks so much this is super useful. I would be wanting more to deliver a club like the £7-12 ones you mentioned at the school, rather than in a separate venue. So maybe the 3.30-4.30 for £10 would be better in that case.

Ok that makes sense! Thank you

3.30-5 sounds like an odd time - it probably starts a bit early for parents to get their children to the club (unless you actually have it at a school) and it finishes too early to be useful for most working parents. So unless you tie in with an afterschool club that provides longer childcare and is prepared to sort out the getting children to and fro, I'm not sure who you are aiming this at?

Are you thinking about the same skill each week (e.g.. they would be signing up to "painting club") - I think if it was different each week, you would struggle to keep general interest, and I assume you would be wanting it paid for in at least half termly blocks?

in terms of costs, you need to compare it to other alternatives in the area. I wouldn't pay that because I think it's too much for an after school "hobby" club and a pain for childcare, but maybe that's more of the norm where you are.

Yes - mine do some school based activity clubs and then go to after school club afterwards. But those clubs are quite cheap, like £4 a session. If I was paying £15 for a club, I wouldn't then want to pay another £16 on top for after school club

I would also expect food to be provided - ours does a substantial hot snack/small meal

£15 isn’t bad at all especially in London, but I agree with what some people say about maybe needing it later say 6pm
if maybe offer 5-6pm as an extra with tea for £10 so total £25 as a teatime hour

I'm not sure bringing a snack would work for all parents because it means the child will have had to carry it with them all day. It's likely to get eaten along with their packed lunch if they have one . And don't underestimate heo hungry some children get after school.
Presumably you will be picking them up from their school? Are you planning to get Ofsted registered?

That sounds sensible. The only other thing I’d add is that our school is ‘fully booked’ for after school activities - when there was parent interest in a new club, they had to stop one of the other clubs to fit it in. Other schools may vary of course!

Thank you for your reply, I actually don’t think I explained myself properly. I would be doing this at a primary school and it would only be one of the skills I mentioned above. For example a gardening club OR a singing club (both of which I have experience in teaching). I’m still trying to figure out what skill to focus on and what most parents would be after. Thanks so much for your reply, it’s really useful to hear feedback ☀️

It depends if you're talking about a club within a school setting or one in a public venue parents would have to bring kids to. I do both. I charge £8 for a 45 min club. At school they go to straight there at 3.15 and parents collect at 4.00 or they go on to the after-school club provision. Outside of school I do 4.00-4.45 to allow time for parents from various schools to collect kids and bring them to the club. The latter is much less convenient for parents and therefore only works with parents who are super keen on the activity in question. This is in Kent.

90 minutes is a very long club I'd say. An hour is the max I'd ever do with primary school kids and nearly all clubs here are an hour or less.

I think it helps to separate out the "I want to run an interest based activity club" from the childcare.

So if you are running an activity at the end of the school day, for dc at their own school, then that seems quite a lot of money to me.

If you are running 'childcare' then that is a whole different ball game, and you would need to feed them, and to cater for different ages, and stay open until parents can get there from their workplace. You would also need to offer it 5 days a week, whereas a club would presumably be aimed at a more limited age range (Yrs 1 and 2, or Years 5 and 6 for example) and be a once a week thing.

Sorry I read this as being like a childminding setting!

Ah ok, having understood you don't mean it as a childcare setting, I think £10 for an hour is more reasonable, though a bit on the high side around here (London) - something to bear in mind is when the wraparound provision serves food to make sure any kids going to your club and then there do get their food

Yes really good point! Thank you!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to speak with me about this, I really appreciate it. ❤️

I have one more question.

As parents considering after-school clubs where children can develop a specific skill such as chess, Lego, gardening, drama, or singing, would it be seen as a positive if the club limited attendance to around 18–20 pupils (for x 2 teachers)? I was thinking this might be a desirable thing as would help ensure that teachers are able to give each child adequate attention and really develop them in that skill.

I asked because my friend sends their kid to a local after-school club for arts and crafts (i think) and there are 35 approximately children that attend and she said it seems a bit chaotic and she’s not sure what her kids actually gaining from attending. But this is just one parents opinion, so wanted to get some more!

How are they getting from school to you?

5pm is too early. Better 6pm you will have better take up
my children’s school after school club runs 3.30-6pm. £7 per session including ‘snacks ‘ eg crumpet, sandwich etc.

Oh wait. Sorry I should have read. You’re doing it at the school. So it’s not quite wrap around but an after school club. £10 a week is quite costly £40 a month?

Ours limits attendance - I’m not sure it’s for the experience so much as based on space/the number of staff. They have a new gardening club this term and it’s limited to 12 kids (it’s run by one of the TAs so doesn’t need to be profitable per se, it’s just something she wanted to do). I’m pretty sure most of the other clubs are limited too for logistics if nothing else.

Yes, I think numbers need to be limited.
Partly for Health and safety. Also comfort - as presumably you are using a classroom. But also for how much the parents will be expecting the child to learn.
What I would pay for a general 'all sports' activity things, where my dc were going to use a bit of energy and spend time with their friends for an hour is very different from what I would pay if it were being promised that my child were learning an instrument.

A sports coach taking £4 off 20 dc will be taking in £80 but the dc would be enjoying the session and getting some exercise and might pick up some new techniques or skills.
A violin teacher OTOH couldn't effectively work with 20 beginners at the same time, so, as a parent, I'd expect to pay considerably more as the child was having 1:1 tuition (or 1:2 perhaps).

If they were doing something like baking, then I'd expect the cost to have to cover the ingredients each week, and supervision of a smaller group of dc, than if they were doing some singing together.

etc etc.

Our school runs various clubs for free so to pay extra (especially around the £10 mark) I'd need it to feel a bit 'specialised' (eg a drama school/karate club/singing teacher visiting).