Working in Out of School Clubs

Narrator: There are many provisions for childcare before school, after school and in the holidays, where children and parents can benefit from out of school clubs and extended school services.

Woman 1: This breakfast club opens at 7.30 in the morning, the parents can drop their children off on their way to work and know that they can get to work on time, while we’re offering them a nice environment before school. After the cereals and toast and when they’ve eaten they’re offered fruit, which we encourage and then they go out to play or in the next room to play games. At 8.30 they come back in to do their teeth and then the juniors go off at about 8.40 and the infants are taken up to their playground at about 8.45.

Man 1: After school clubs are like a home away from home, children can come here, they’re with their friends, they can enjoy themselves and the parents obviously can leave their kids here and not have to worry about getting back from work so soon. So its great for both the parents and the kids and all the staff love working with the children and the children have a great time, so all in all it’s a great place for children to be.

Woman 2: At the moment we have a breakfast club and an after school club and that’s been important to us because we have so many children who need that sort of care and we had a growing number of children who were waiting in reception at the end of the afternoon with a mobile phone waiting for a taxi, which sometimes didn’t turn up and so when Louisa came and suggested that we have something like that, was I interested, then yes I was.

Woman 3: Children have the freedom too choose play activities, to socialise with other children, so that might include arts & crafts activities, out door play, board games, all sorts of structured sports but the main emphasis on free play and children’s choice.

Man 1: For 3 hours or so they get the enjoyment having play where they have people looking after them, there’s lots of toys, lots of games, lots of activities to deal with, I mean parents that haven’t got to worry about where their children are, the after school clubs are there available for parents, even a lot of carers allowing children to come to venues like this and enjoy the activities that are available to them.

Woman 4: We have themed things through the holidays depending on what time of the year it is, we may do summer activities, Christmas obviously and that sort of thing, so we’ll arrange creative stuff for the children, maybe relevant DVD’s if it’s a rainy day and just that sort of thing. Obviously you can see round the room we’ve got things decorated.

Man 2: I think its very important that the children have a male role model within a play setting, I mean male play workers are an important part of a successful after school clubs or any other clubs that are run for children. 

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