Jo Jingles

[ghengis]

I am interested in setting up a music class for pre school children in Devon. I discovered Jo Jingles (a franchise) from a search engine but had never heard of them before.

Has anyone heard of them/used them? I'd be grateful for any information. Thanks.

I've heard of them but don't have any experience Ghengis. It occurs to me though that you could set up a music class for pre-schoolers without paying money for a franchise couldn't you? You'd need to advertise and hire a hall etc but still, shouldn't be too hard. Off topic, but Jimjams and I talked about arranging a Devon meet up, are you interested if we do? There's a thread about it under meet ups, so post there if so.

jo jingles are a big chain of music movement 'classes' for toddlers. not ben personally but lots of my friends take their children there and really like them. I think they are fairly well established - I guess you've been to their website?
www.jojingles.co.uk/

Thanks both. Yes I've looked at their website and sent off for more info. I was looking for a Mumsnet honest opinion - worth much more than the blurb!

WWW, yes I could do the class and probably will when I find out the cost of the franchise! I'll have a look at the other thread re. the meet up. Sounds good to me.

start a monkey music class please...... :-) I used to take Ds1 in Bromley and he loved it. I promise to sign up and bring ds2 if you do.

Come on everybody clap your hands like monkey let me see you do it too.......

I've been taking my dd (now aged 2, for about a year to Jo Jingles. It's good fun - pretty structured (although that could be the person leading the class). Accessories and musical instruments are good quality, plus everything is themed, so you seem to have a plan to follow week to week.

We started off with a walking to 2s group, which was good. My dd was walking from 10 months though, and has pretty advanced language, so she was getting a bit bored before her second birthday. Really appreciated the fact that the 'teacher' let her progress to the next group early (although she was obviously quite young in comparison with the others, many of whom were nearly 3). There is then a 3-5 group.

Prices seem reasonable compared with others I've seen. Other groups in our area include Music with Mummy - they're all franchises. I was interested myself and so did some research. The difference seems to be in the total outlay up front. JJ seemed on the high side, but if the quality is good, and you're in an area with lots of demand, maybe it doesn't matter. What put me off the whole idea was the need to run quite a high number of classes in order to recoup the outlay. Our teacher runs 3 classes a day, 3 days a week (9 hours total plus set up and clear away time). There's always a waiting list though and she's had to recruit other teachers for the area.

Good luck with whatever you try!

Thanks Utka, that's very helpful. How much per session is reasonable where you live?

Ghengis-saw your thread re Music. As someone else mentioned Music with Mummy, I hope it's OK for me to say it as well. I run Music with Mummy classes in my area, and it's great. Yes, you do have to get enough people to make it worth while but the frnachise fees aren't horrendous. If you need any more info check out the site:-Musicwithmummy.co.uk
Hope this helps!

Hi

Another good music group is Musical Minnies - they run it here in Nottingham and also in Newcastle, again it is a franchise.

Speaking as a musician, I want to say it is a fantastic idea to set up any groups for children to encourage musical talent, from whatever age!

my dd loves Jo Jingles. As Utka said it's well structured and obviously well planned. All the instruments etc are in excellent condition, as are the books and toys that are laid out before hand. What I like about it is as well as the music and movement there is a great emphasis too on stopping and listening, taking turns, helping and tidying up. DD is quite distraught that it doesn't run over the summer. I can't recommend the class I go to highly enough

I took my DS to Jo Jingles when he was 1 until we left the UK to move to New Zealand when he was just over 2. We loved it and I have to say that it was one of the main things that we missed when we moved. My DS still knows a lot of the songs and the movements that he learned. There is not much to compare here; I took him to a couple of community music groups in Auckland and he hated them ... no structure ... too many children from a wide age range (screaming babies to raucus 4 year olds) so we didn't bother anymore
I phoned JJ to ask if I could start a franchise in NZ but the cost of the start up was way too much ... 7000 GBP(plus extra for piloting a scheme out of the UK) ... which converted into NZ$21000+ is a fortune ... and as NZers would not be able to pay the same amount as people in the UK so it would have taken me a very very long time to make up the outlay ... so I gave up on that idea too
Ghengis ... If you can afford it go for it ... it is a great scheme ....

We go to Jo Jingles occasionally anbd they charge 3.25 plus a pound a term insurance. There is also a 'music for mummy' group here which I fiund to be alot better. They based each term around one particular subject and set of songs which I found was easier for the little ones to remember. Jo Jingles seemed to change their topics every week. Which disregarding my two I found it confusing

When I think of Jo Jingles I always think of that cold feet episode

Jollymum, I have just got back from holiday and checked out musicwithmummy website. There's a contact in my area so will go along in September and give it a go, see if I like the structure, etc. Thanks for the suggestion.