Holiday club

[L_Caterpillars]

Hi,

I am just in the process of setting up. I am planning on boosting my earnings during the school holidays by running a holiday club for school age children (only a couple a day, possibly elder siblings of my EY children). I will be charging £32.50 per day all inclusive for EY children (which is about average around here) and was thinking of charging £25 per day for the holiday club children.

Do you feel in your experience that this sounds about right? I am struggling to find prices on line for all day care for school age children.

Thanks :)

[sarah707]

Are there any clubs in your local area? What they charge will give you a better idea of how to pitch it...

I hope it goes well :D

[bunyip]

I'm no expert, but your charges strike me as a bit AAF.

IME schoolies eat way more than EY children, consume vast amounts of expendables (such as craft materials), need far more attention (having largely lost the ability to play on their own initiative- I think this is one of school's first "deskilling" lessons) and they break stuff too.

How long is your 'day'? If it's any more than eight hours then I'd gladly sub-contract my minders to you or the holidays and still keep a tidy profit!

And why charge according to the local average? How does that relate to your costs and the quality of the service you're offering? No offence, but if you're only interested in the average then you're inadvertently sending out a message that you're an 'average' childcare service.

[moggy]

I agree, school holiday care is very demanding.
School age children (and their parents) expect crafts/exiting outings/sports/forest school/swimming/activities etc every day. Look at what your local holiday clubs are offering- and their prices. Look at it from a parent's point of view and see what you can beat them on: can you offer a quieter setting for children who don't like the busy holiday clubs? Can you take them to the beach or somewhere special (but free) regularly? How about the meals you offer- can you beat them on home cooked food (but as Bunjip also raised, they can eat adult sized portions and they can also be very fussy with food), Maybe packed lunches could keep your cost down!
Looking locally here, a full day of school holiday club is cheaper than a full day of EYFS childminding. BUT they are working at massively different ratios. I could not compete, so I do not offer it.
If your EYFS children have older siblings, won't they be with you anyway if you're taking them to/from school? That is the usual set up, and then the school sibling + the EYFS sibling all have the holidays with their CMer. I wouldn't call that a holiday club, just your contractual agreement for the children (term time before/after school and school holiday care). The advantage for the family is that you are their usual CMer, children are happy and settled with you, both siblings can be there together, so they are happy to pay more for that.

[watford wizz]

I Childmind through the holidays but agree with the comments about older ones being more needy and expensive.
I provide Ofsted registered, qualified, experienced Childminding I don't try to compete with other settings or be like them.
I think you may find you will stumble business wise trying to please all. Be confident to be a brilliant childminder!!!
In my area "holiday clubs" are either one or two weeks long run by church or youth group for a very low fee or full day care usually run by large companies using school facilities and offering 101 daily activities, no food provided other than snack shop(fizzy drink and chocolate/sugar) costing £50 plus a day! Adult ratio 1 -8 or higher.
My last family who had previously used a busy action packed club came back to me because child got hurt several times and no one helped/reported it to parents and after 4 sessions child was over stimulated and couldn't behave/sleep.
Be brave, be individual, be you!!! Xx

[hectors house]

I only normally have EY children but offered places to siblings for half term last week (not to be helpful but I was trying to recoup some money for not working bank holiday Monday and I'm having a week's holiday next week so again no income). I completely agree with other people's comments about older children being hard work -
a) they don't know my rules as I haven't looked after them since babies and "trained" them my way - so I was constantly saying "walk, don't run", "sit on the sofa properly", "take your shoes off"
b) agree with comments about them having shorter concentration span - they wanted to change activities every 5 mins (there are a lot of 5 mins in an 8 hour day)!
c) They were fussy eaters so I gave into oven chips, fish fingers and baked beans as I knew that I would be fighting a losing battle with anything healthy like their younger siblings eat normally.
d) They did masses of craft getting through packs of pom poms, stickers, glittery shapes, paper, glue, paint

Because I was a little greedy in having 5 or 6 children each day (including my normal EY children) I couldn't take them out in the car as I only have a 5 seater - luckily the weather was fine and they could play in the garden and one day we walked to the park.

[Mouse]

I would think carefully about marketing yourself as a holiday club, especially if it's only for a couple of children, possibly siblings of your younger children.

A holiday club is usually seen as a cheap alternative for parents during the holidays. Holiday clubs here are often a football club, a dance club, a church run club etc. They're cheap because they have fewer overheads and can take on a lot of children.

As a childminder you can offer a longer day than a holiday club, you can keep siblings together (easier for parents to drop off and collect in one place), you can provide activities specifically suited to the children you look after, you can provide the food they like etc etc.

If you call yourself a holiday club parents will expect holiday club activities for a holiday club fee. Sell yourself as a childminder offering school holiday places and you can charge a much more appropriate fee. Don't sell yourself sort by trying to match the fees of a holiday club. School aged children can be hard work and you may regret it if you reduce your rate for them.