Can I compete with before and after school club?!
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Default Can I compete with before and after school club?!

    The local before and after school club charges only £3 for a morning session including breakfast, and only £9 for after school including a snack/ light tea time meal (so not a cooked dinner).

    I'm looking at how I can compete with them, as I'm toying with the idea of trying to mainly focus on before and after school care (as I really want to do term time only).

    The school club doesn't open until 7.50am, so to open my chances up I'm planning on opening at 7a.m. I would also include a small breakfast, but I couldn't possibly do it for as little the club does (theirs is one hour long so £3 per hour). If I was charging hourly I would be charging £4.50 per hour (going rate round here), which would make my fee £7.80 for the morning, and after school £12.40. For simplicity I was going to round these up/down to £7.50 for a morning session, and £12.50 for an after school session, making me £20 per day in comparison to the school's £12 per day.

    Are people going to pay that? What are people's experiences of people paying a childminder when there is an after school club? The area I live in has a real mix of people on a budget, and people who earn very good money. I wouldn't want to take the micky with my pricing, I feel that what I've suggested is fair. The club can only take so many children, and won't take pre schoolers (I already have had two Mum's with pre school children as well as school children enquire about my services)

    Can anyone give their experiences of competing with a much cheaper option and how well you faired?

    Sorry if a bit garbled, just got to rush off to collect my kids from school and wanted to get it all down before.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Our primary school is a large village primary which intake from the next town along (where I am based). We have very affluent families and families on low incomes. There is one childminder who does well but the rest of us with children at school get very little work.
    I hate to say this but I rarely get any enquiries. I've had two school age children in the 6 years I've been minding and each of them only stayed a year then left due to Mum going on Maternity.
    I do get the odd enquiry for families who are adamant that they don't want their child to be in school 7:45-5:30 but once they do the sums they use the club anyway. My price differential is pretty much the same as yours. Probably not what you want to hear :-(

  3. #3
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    From experience I do think it's hard to compete with a school breakfast club. A lot of parents don't seem too concerned about dropping their child off at school an hour early, especially if they get breakfast thrown in for a few quid.

    I have found that parents are a bit more hesitant about putting children in the after school club. They don't want their children to do a full day at school, then have to spend an extra couple of hours in the school hall. There are a lot of childminders at my local school and they are all full with after school children. Parents tend to use the after school club only if they can't get their child in with a childminder. None of the CMs try to compete on price as they don't need to. The after school club is a lot cheaper, but luckily most local parents don't seem to be swayed by that.

    I guess it very much depends on the area you live in, so you need to find out how other childminders do in you area

  4. #4
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    Thanks for your replies.

    I'm finding it hard to make up my mind whether I want to do just before and after school care, or just EYFS, or both! I know most do both, but I wanted to try to limit it for myself at first while I get used to it.

    I've not worked at all for 6 years (apart from some online work when the kids were in bed) and I don't want to overload myself while I get back into the swing of things. That's a bit OT from my original thread here, but it's all related.

    X

  5. #5
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    It makes a lot of sense to start off slowly. I have seen childminders start up & take on a lot of work, only to realise they can't cope with it all.

    I only look after EYFS children. I find I usually have the child from being a baby until they start school. I've never found it a barrier to getting work. Most of the children go to different schools anyway, so I wouldn't have been able to collect them even if I'd wanted to.

    I also know childminders who only do before & after school care. Sometimes I think it must be nice to have the whole day free, but then I know I'd get bored!

  6. #6
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    the main reason that afterschool club attracts children here is that parents only pay when they attend. limited number of place means I cant be this flexible ( or wont). I wouldn't even try to compete on price -( school holiday club is £20 a day!). I'm worth much more than that!

 

 

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