School letter about breakfast club!

Lady Haha · 25-11-2009, 06:05 PM

Just got a letter from the school with a questionnaire attached about a proposed Breakfast Club! It says they are making enquiries to see if there is a need for one. It also says that it will start at 8am and children will be able to buy breakfast from the canteen and no other costs will be involved!!

Unless the breakfast is gonna be 3.70 which is my hourly rate and what i charge for school drop, they are going to be seriously undercutting me!

I have three mindees that I drop to the school that I could lose. Two of them only come mornings and school hols, so it makes perfect sense for their mum to use a breakfast club instead of me

And to make matters worse, they are also considering starting up an after school club with neighbouring schools and thinking of charging between 8 and 9 pounds per session.

I'm not as worried about the after school club as I charge 8.00 per session and I provide a far better service

But they also go on to ask if parents would be interested in school holiday care....

Again, not as worried because there are already far cheaper (than me) school holiday clubs locally and I haven't lost any mindees to them.

But this bloomin breakfast club could end up losing me 50.00 a week

Actually, now I've typed it all out to tell you, it doesn't seem so bad! I was thinking of cutting down on hours next year anyway......so as long as I don't lose any after schoolers or holiday ones, I should be okay.

Gotta love this forum......pure therapy!!!

**beccas** · 25-11-2009, 06:44 PM

my local school does this breakfast club 50p a day after school till 5pm £2 a session. no match for me but i am doing ok as my parents need me till 6 and i know the after school club has maybe 4 children and in the holidays a holiday club is also run by them at £14 for a full day 8 am till 5 pm but again it only has 2 children that attend so dont worry parents can be loyal

**Pudding Girl** · 25-11-2009, 06:47 PM

AFAIK all schools have to offer wraparound care from Sept 2010 so a lot of CMs will be losing older children.

TheBTeam · 25-11-2009, 06:56 PM

Our school had a breakfast club for just under two full school years and it closed at the end of last academic year due to fraud! They can not get anyone at the moment to run another and have even been asking childminders if they would run it!

This has helped my before school business and a few other childminders! The afterschool club still runs and is cheaper, but i still have an afterschooler here.

**Lincsminder** · 25-11-2009, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Pudding Girl

AFAIK all schools have to offer wraparound care from Sept 2010 so a lot of CMs will be losing older children.

from what i can gather they don't have to offer it themselves if they can point parents in the direction of oter services such as chilminders.

**Alibali** · 25-11-2009, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Pudding Girl

AFAIK all schools have to offer wraparound care from Sept 2010 so a lot of CMs will be losing older children.

I didn't know that, our school couldn't accommodate one I don't think. Gosh, one more thing to worry about, or is it?

If I could get reasonably priced childcare for my 2 youngest from Sept 2010 I could do my post grad primary teacher training, only have to put up with the parents occasionally

**Lou** · 25-11-2009, 08:14 PM

As a parent who uses childcare, I personally send my DD to a childminder as i know she would rather be in a home environment before and after school as needed instead of being in the school environment all day long.

She needs to relax and chill out a bit and not be in the same place all day.

My childminder is also much more flexible, and yes she does charge slightly more but the breakfast/after school/holiday club shuts down for 2 weeks in summer which is no good for me, they also close at 5.30, and some parents need much more flexibility.

**madredann** · 25-11-2009, 08:18 PM

Can parents get help with tax credits against these clubs?

Lady Haha · 25-11-2009, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Lincsminder

from what i can gather they don't have to offer it themselves if they can point parents in the direction of oter services such as chilminders.

ah, that would make sense of something else on the letter! It also said the school was thinking of building a database of childminders that they could refer parents to. So, it would seem that they are looking into this because it will become mandatory next year to be able to offer wraparound care of some kind and by sending this questionnaire home they are just doing what we all do - gathering evidence that they worked with parents on this idea!

I don't mind the breakfast club so much, it would be nice to have the morning for just me and my son to be honest! Hey, I might even send him to it sometimes!! Have a nice long day off before pick up time!

**youarewhatyoueat** · 25-11-2009, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by Lincsminder

from what i can gather they don't have to offer it themselves if they can point parents in the direction of oter services such as chilminders.

Yes thats me!!! I tick my local schools box as the only childminder in the village offering after school care, not that I want to do it.I think schools have to offer it or if its on offer somewhere else it has to be less than 3 miles away or something like that.

**tulip0803** · 25-11-2009, 11:37 PM

There is no way I can compete with out breakfast club at school because it's free! In fact I have started taking DD2 as I have to drop DS & DD1 at the bus stop for the school bus at 8.00. She was never ready for 8.45 but now she is always ready at 8 & I get peace & quiet for a while

Free breakfast club is a Welsh Assembly Government thingy

**christine e** · 26-11-2009, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by madredann

Can parents get help with tax credits against these clubs?

Yep because they register with Ofsted

Cx

**peanuts** · 26-11-2009, 08:46 AM

i lost 3 mindees to the breakfast club, they charge £1, there is no way i can compete with that.

although mum still uses me as back up sometimes if they are running too late for going to breakfast club.

**christine e** · 26-11-2009, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by madredann

Can parents get help with tax credits against these clubs?

Yep because they register with Ofsted

Cx

**Bitsy Beans** · 26-11-2009, 11:02 AM

I have the same problem with wrap around at the school at the end of my garden. They run from 8am to 6pm 5 days a week and target all potential clients direct having got the names and addresses from school. They are about 35p cheaper than me per hour but because they can sell themselves direct to potential clients I only get the enquiries that they can't accommodate. It's a total PITA

**Ripeberry** · 26-11-2009, 12:04 PM

There are 3 schools around me and they all have after-school clubs and some are starting breakfast clubs. These have all opened in the last 5yrs, but before that there were just CMs. Now the CMs are starting to close as these places are taking all the business away

All that's left are the kids that have not got a place in the after school clubs as they are full or little babies

Lady Haha · 26-11-2009, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by peanuts

although mum still uses me as back up sometimes if they are running too late for going to breakfast club.

Well, if there is a possibility of my three mindees not being able to go to the breakfast club if they are running late, I have no worries

All three of them barely have time to take their coats off and we are off to school, they get dropped off so late!

**Monkey1** · 27-11-2009, 06:07 AM

I have a lady asking me every week if i have spaces as her DD hates going to the afterschool club and wants to come to me (i have two mindees in that class) I think the afterschool clubs that are based at the school are just too much for some children, especially the little ones as it makes it a long day ''at school'' and they are mixed with children from 5 to 11 (sounds like my house

)
Perhaps we should all register as after school clubs instead......we all probably have the same amount of space and we could have more kids, will be able to access more funding etc etc etc

might have to call Ofsted and see what the regulations are and if you could combine it????