Wraparound care, as the term implies, is typically used to describe childcare that is scheduled around a traditional school day.
Examples of wraparound care include breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, and even holiday or summer clubs. These sessions are an excellent chance for schools to provide a safe learning and social environment for the children under their care.
These childcare sessions are a win-win for everyone. They provide a lifeline to busy working parents, offer an opportunity for schools to generate extra income, and allow children to continue their learning in a stimulating environment throughout the school week and even during summers with holiday clubs.
A school’s existing infrastructure, enrichment plans, and extracurricular offers can complement and support the delivery of wraparound childcare provision. The Government supports and encourages schools to consider how such activities can be delivered in a way that supports working parents.
The Government further encourages schools to explore how their existing safeguarding infrastructure can be extended to wraparound care sessions so that parents are not required to pick up or drop off their children between the core school day and wraparound childcare. You can find government guidance that focuses on childcare before and after the school day during school term time here.
Getting started with organising clubs in your school
Nurturing a child can take many different forms, but the school plays the most important role in preparing young pupils for life. The learning does not stop at the ringing of the bell, it goes beyond the classrooms. After-school clubs are a great way to ensure that young pupils have opportunities for personal development and enrichment. But how can schools provide this opportunity to their pupils?
As a school, it is important to ensure that these after-school clubs are an extension of a child’s education. After-school clubs can focus on activities that are related to but different from the curriculum, assisting students in determining which field of career or subject could be their calling. Some examples of such clubs could be:
1) STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Clubs
2) Performing Arts – Dance, Drama, and Filmmaking
3) Language
4) Sports
5) Charity
6) Exam and Revision Support
Some of the crucial questions could be – a) suitable operating times, b) frequency of the club sessions per week, c) projected costs they would be willing to cover or contribute towards running these club sessions, and d) any specific club requests for their children. Having an estimate of the demand(s) will allow you to better determine other requirements such as staffing, food requirements, and equipment expenses. A combination of these factors will eventually determine the cost(s) for running these clubs and how you can potentially increase revenue for your school.
Finally, you must work out whether your establishment needs to register school-based childcare provision with Ofsted. You can learn more about registration exemptions and get guidance on Ofsted registration here.
Key provisions of setting up your school clubs
Staffing
While many schools employ external agency staff to run their clubs, it is not ideal in a scenario where the school would like to generate some extra income from these club sessions. To ensure that you can operate the clubs safely with the help of your school staff, you need to keep the following requirements in mind: 1) number of children, 2) ages of children, 3) type of space and its layout, and 4) type of activities being offered. While Ofsted has its own staff ratio recommendations based on children’s age groups, these are just the absolute minimum requirements that the childcare establishment must follow.
Catering to all dietary requirements
You can begin by determining whether your catering contract includes the provision of breakfast and/or snacks, or if it is negotiable. However, you do not have to rely on your caterer to ensure that your club’s food requirements are met. To pick up or have food delivered, call your local supermarkets or restaurants. This enables you to be versatile with your meal menus, even rotating them on a weekly basis. Make sure you consider any particular catering requirements when selecting a food/snack provider.
Food items commonly provided by schools in the DofE programme include bagels, cereal, toast, juice/squash, sandwiches, wraps, fruit and vegetable batons, dips such as hummus, and breadsticks. Schools can use the “What Works Well” Recipe Hub, which was created by Public Health England and the School Food Plan, to discover more about tried-and-tested tasty dishes that satisfy food requirements throughout the school day.
Equipment
Once you’ve decided on the types of activities you’ll be offering during these club sessions, you may select which equipment(s) will be needed to keep the clubs running smoothly. When selecting play equipment, schools can strive to cover the following areas:
1) Craft materials
2) A variety of board games (from classics like Connect4 to construction sets like Lego etc.)
3) Cushions, rugs, and blankets for building a quiet area
4) Sports equipment
5) Costume essentials and props for drama club
6) Home learning resources
7) First aid kits and lockable medical boxes
Without club management software, club session bookings and registrations would require additional equipment such as a cash box, documents and papers, notices, etc. But with Schoolcomms Clubs, organising and managing clubs has never been easier. Learn how you can benefit from this module. benefit from this module.
Managing school clubs made easier with Schoolcomms
Once you have ticked all these boxes mentioned above, you will be ready to get started with your school clubs. However, organising and managing clubs is not an easy feat and it warrants the need to stay on top of your admin.
Manage sessions with ease
Take away the paperwork and free up your staff’s valuable admin time to focus on things that matter. Stay on top of your clubs’ attendance and details by organising session times, monitoring attendance, and managing payments in our intuitive app, branded for your school. You can even seamlessly add pupils to each club either individually or through SIMS groups, with the option to cancel or edit bookings in an instant.
Be flexible with online bookings
Parents and staff can book students into any of your school’s clubs, and you can even set booking deadlines to give staff more time to make final arrangements.
Helping strengthen safeguarding
Maintain a strict watch on attendance with effective record-keeping, ensuring the security of children during extracurricular activities. There is no need to retain manual records when you can use our printable online registers, which provide important insight into the popularity of each club.
Control cash flow
Be inclusive of your parents by requesting payment at the time of booking or offering the option to pay later. Set payment deadlines to guarantee you have control over when you get income.
Get the most out of your school system
Empower your students to experience everything your school has to offer. Staff and parents can quickly register their children for a variety of extracurricular clubs using our user-friendly booking system. You may even put limits on the number of places that can be booked for each of your clubs, so you never have to worry about oversubscribing again.
Download our Ultimate Guide to Club Management and learn more about how you can get started with or improve your wraparound care provisions at school.
