Schools have increasingly started offering various after-school activities to help working families with childcare and improve children’s social development. After-school clubs can provide schools with new and fun ways to support children in their learning. Other clubs, such as breakfast clubs and school sports clubs can help promote healthy eating and improve pupils’ physical and emotional health.
The benefits of running school clubs are not just limited to these. School clubs are also a great way for schools to generate additional income. In fact, childcare provided by schools outside of normal school hours (known as wraparound care) is so essential to working families that a recent YouGov poll found that 24% of parents couldn’t do their jobs if it wasn’t for wraparound care, with that figure increasing to one in three for women.
However, organising and managing wraparound care can be a challenge for schools. In addition to the after-school and school breakfast clubs, supervision of any other clubs functioning during school hours can turn club management into a burdensome task. Schoolcomms Club management solution can help you with end-to-end management of all your school clubs.
Our Ultimate Guide to Club Management is packed with information about:
The legal bit and benefits of providing wraparound care
While schools are not legally obligated to provide wraparound care, parents and caregivers have a legal right to request it from schools. There is government guidance about how schools should respond to this request. Aside from the legal mandate, there are other compelling reasons why your school should consider offering wraparound care. From providing an additional income source to building a more collaborative connection with parents, wraparound care benefits everyone — parents, children, and schools. Our guide delves deeper into government guidance, additional benefits of providing wraparound care, and how an online club management system can help.
Government funding and incentives
There is plenty of government assistance available to support schools with the provision of wraparound care. The National Breakfast Programme, Pupil Premium and Pupil Premium Plus, and Primary PE and Sport Premium are just a handful of the schemes that could help your school provide wraparound care. Most of these schemes have an application deadline and certain eligibility requirements that must be met. In our Ultimate Guide to Club Management, you can learn more about such schemes and get ideas for making your clubs money work harder.
Providing the best wraparound care
Families should always be at the core of all childcare provisions, therefore providing the best wraparound care begins with engaging and involving parents. Surveying parents to learn what they think about your wraparound care offerings is a wonderful place to start involving parents in the process. While surveying parents may be a relatively easy task to cross off your list, there are several additional factors to consider to ensure the high quality of your wraparound care. Download our Ultimate Guide to Club Management for six tips on providing the best wraparound care, and much more.
How a club management solution can help
The most efficient way to run wraparound care and promote uptake is to make the entire process as simple as possible for everyone involved. Organising and managing school clubs can become taxing for teachers and admin staff. Too often, the school staff struggles to manage clubs smoothly due to issues such as paperwork, payment collection, attendance, and record keeping. This is where club management solutions like Schoolcomms can come in handy. With our guide, you can learn more about how a club management system, can be the key to the efficient running of clubs and which non-negotiables you should consider when choosing one.
Download the ultimate guide to boosting your budget, improving club management efficiency, and enhancing wraparound care.