Lunch Club

[blondie]

hi we are looking to start up a lunch club in september but are unsure where to start - we obviously need to canvass our parents to see if there is a need (we know there is but not how many would ACTUALLY use it when push comes to shove)

has anyone out there a sample of aquestionnaire they sent out and any other ideas , help they can give me?

many thanks and enjoy the half term x

[Fredbear]

Hi blondie we started a lunch club last year in the Summer with a choice of up to 4 lunch club sessions per week and initially had a good uptake. However in September numbers dropped considerably due to a much younger cohort of children.

We let it continue to run until Christmas like this to see if numbers would pick up at all, but had to make the decision to have just one session per week which 16 children now attend.

The decision to reduce availability were:

1. Staff salaries always had a minimum of three staff.

2. Rent of premises for additional time.

3. Amount of revenue from children.

We charged £2.00 per session as a additional service and parent/carers were unable to use this as part of their funding allocation.

We did ask parents to sign up for a half-term for this service with payment and they had to pay regardless of sickness, absence etc.

Although children could come for the first session as a taster if places allowed for this and then parents signed up [ never had a child that didn't want to continue].

We also play games, have books, stories, construction and go outside after we have finished eating.

We needed to have a minimum of 14 children to break even.

However we have recently sent out a questionaire and the interest does appear to be there again so we will be reintroducing this again in the near future.

Do check with your users whether they really will take up this service.

Wishing you well.

[Inge]

cannot remember what we asked.. think it was along lines would you use it.. how many times a week,

 

we gave how much we would charge so they knew the cost and terms we would operate under.. ie weekly bookings or monthly or termly, payment even if not attending etc..

 

ours was between 2 sessions so they had a choice of half hour, full hour, in that way both sessions could attend if they wanted.. so had lots of comings and goings over the time but more parents opted for children to stay with choice. We also offered a one time booking at double the cost.. they had to give us at least 24hrs notice so we could say yes or no to space available - this proved popular for some who had appointments, or needed the occasional longer session.

 

we did not have many take it up about 6 a day was average.. we had 2 members of staff rotating so the 3rd could have a beak for lunch but most of the time we sat with the children to eat which worked really well for us..

 

as we already had hall hire for that period no extra cost there and insurance was already for all day.. staff were already paid for that period as we had paid break at lunch time.. but any loss we decided was worth it as we were offering a service to the parents and children learnt so much from staying.

 

biggest downfall which we had to address was parents got the idea that as we were there and open anyway being late collecting would not be an issue and some began to take advantage of it , turning up late and not paying anything or expecting to... then they expected to pay the lunch club fee if we did charge... had to become tough and they got charged at an exorbitant rate of £5.00 per 15 mins, or part of! once was enough to stop them doing it..

 

once up and running it became more popular and up to 10 each day was normal.. children often asked parents to stay as they saw some going to sit at a table while they were taken home... they did not want to miss out. summer term was always busiest as parents liked the idea of children becoming more independent with managing a lunch in a small environment .

 

storage was always one thing we were asked about.. parents had to provide lunch in a cool bag with an ice pack.. no icepack we had spares to put in on arrival and a note went in the box asking them to provide one next time.. we found that by having a few in the setting for parents to buy from us worked when they commented they could not find small ones..

 

good luck.. we got to know the children so well, we all loved it.

 

we eventually went full daycare and they still paid for the break if children stayed all day, and when 3 hour funding came in was able to be included in the funded period but this may depend on your area.

[calicojo]

Gosh I would think you'll have lots of takers based on our experience - most parents liked the opportunity of an extra hour and we find that although a child may start just doing the 3 hour morning session, they soon add the lunch hour as well when they realise most other children stay. If the child is not tired out after a morning session then they can probably cope with another hour and it can be taken as part of the funding so may not cost the parents any more.

 

We have children staying all day (5.5 hours) from the age of about 3 and some start even earlier. We have found that offering longer sessions has helped us keep attracting new children compared to other local settings who can't offer the hours for various reasons.

 

Jo