Out of School
The Out of school scheme is our oldest project and was one of the first of its kind in Europe.
We provide 100 places for children of primary school age who attend all year round, with an additional 20 places for Holidays Only. The Out of School Manager runs this project with a team of fantastic staff. Most of the staff have been trained in childcare, whilst others are working towards gaining this qualification.
The environment is organised, clean and well maintained. The scheme is a free play environment; children can choose which activities they wish to participate in. The activities stimulate and encourage development as well as teaches them to co-operate with each other.
Our aim is to provide a safe, stimulating and happy environment for children in our care. The children are introduced to a variety of activities, which are planned. Our activities are carefully designed to ensure that all children have equal opportunity to participate in activities of their choice. Relevant support is provided to ensure that all our children's needs are met.
Please choose from a scheme below
The scheme runs Monday-Friday from the end of the school day when the children are picked up from school, until 6.30pm during term time, and from 7.45am to 6.30pm during the school holidays, with the exception of Bank Holidays.
Our minibuses leave the centre shortly before 3pm to collect the children from school and normally return by 4pm.
When the children arrive from school a light nutritious snack is provided (see menu), after snack the children can then freely choose how they want to occupy their time. We organise a range of activities and clubs including sports, gardening, Lego club, board games, soft play, video gaming, Dance, cooking & role play. They can take part in one or all activities, create their own games or play in our Adventure playground if weather permits.
We are registered to collect 100 children from their schools. Most are collected in one of our four minibuses.
If there is any doubt as to whether we should be collecting a child from school, we will always bring them to the safety of our facilities rather than leave them outside a school.
The minibuses leave at around 2.45 pm and are out for approximately an hour.
SCHOOLS WE COLLECT FROM:
- ARK Oval
- St Marys Infants & Juniors
- Robert Fitzroy Infants & Juniors
Please contact us if your child's school is not on the list, although we don't collect from other schools, we may be able to accept after school children if they were to arrange dropping to the building.
The scheme runs Monday-Friday from 7.45am to 6.30pm during the school holidays, with the exception of Bank Holidays.
For children who arrive before 8.30am cereal and toast will be provided. Children bring their own packed lunches. We provide the children with afternoon snack. (see menu)
During the day we organise lots of activities for the children to do, we often take them out on trips too, including parks, museums and the cinema. As with the After School scheme they are free to choose which activities they would like to do and we run the same clubs throughout the year, eg Lego club, garden, dance etc.
Our Staff
We employ a qualified NVQ Manager (in Playwork and Early Years) and most of our Playworkers are qualified in NVQ Level 2 & 3. All staff members are DBS checked.
Our staff have training in Behaviour Management, the Early Years Foundation Sage for Out of School provision, Safeguarding Children, Autism training, Understanding, working with, and supporting children's behaviour, Understanding Play Types and First Aid.
Parental involvement
We encourage parents to be involved in all aspects of the their child's day but we understand that this is difficult when working full-time so we are happy for parents to telephone or write to us any time.
We involve parents in fund-raising activities and on outings with the children and hold parents evenings that provide the opportunity to discuss your child's progress with the key person and members of the team.