Guest Posted August 18, 2006 Posted August 18, 2006 Hi Guys... We want to start up a Breakfast Club after Half Term. The preschool runs from a Community Hall where we packaway each day. Staff will need to be setting up in the morning while another member/s will organise Breakfast in an area of the hall. Has anyone any experience of this? I would be very grateful for any help? Really need a policy/procedures, Can you help? Thanx Carla
Running Bunny Posted August 18, 2006 Posted August 18, 2006 Hi, If you haven't done so already, I'd really recommend getting in touch with your Early Years team at your Local Authority. Either that or the PLA if you are a member. I know that there is funding available for schools as part of the Extended Schools Initiative to set up breakfast clubs, but not sure about preschools. Are you thinking of doing this just for preschool children or opening it up to older children as well? Will you have to vary your Ofsted registration for new opening times? What you need to do is write out roles and responsibilities for each staff member (who does what and when?) and then you can draw out a policy/procedure from that. I would guess that most of the preschool policies would cover the breakfast club as far as food handling, behaviour, partnership with parents etc.. It doesn't really answer your question, but I'm sure others on here will have more suggestions!
Guest DeborahF Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 Hi! I've run a Breakfast and After School Club before - what do you need a policy on exactly? You'll need to check with your insurance company whether you need to change the hours of opening on the policy you have with them. Are you opening up the club to school age children as well?
Guest Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 Hi thanx for your reply, we will be opening for preschool children 3/4 years and primary who go to the school across the road. (There is a lollipop to help with crossing the road) Any information would be fab, especially info that you discovered you had never thought about.
Guest DeborahF Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 Hi again. Okay, just a few things as they pop into my head, I'll probably think of more later! These are things I learnt once we'd opened - you will find that you're on a very steep learning curve with this and things will go wrong beforw you realise how you SHOULD be doing things!! Don't worry too much about that! 1. Whatever time you choose to open, there will always be parents hammering on the door wanting you to take their children in earlier! Stand firm on this - I always said that my insurance wasn't valid until 8am and therefore couldn't take children onto the premises before then. Also remember that you need two members of staff there before any children can be left - occasionally, mainly during the winter, staff got held up by weather conditions, car not starting, etc. and although parents will be annoyed by the delay, stand firm! 2. If you have got school children, you need to have a very clear policy in place about how they are going to be escorted to school and when they become the responsibility of the school rather than you. Our club was in a room on school premises and we didn't release the children out onto the playground until there was a member of school staff on duty out there, even if there were lots of other children already out there. That policy/procedure is very important! Also, what happens if the school announces that they are closed for the day - heating failure etc. - after the children have been dropped off with you? Who contacts parents, where do they wait until they are collected etc? 3. Don't have TOO much choice on the breakfast menu! A couple of cereals and something "bready" might be enough. Other things that went down well with our lot were fromage frais, bananas and apples, bagels/crumpets/muffins. For drinks we had milk, apple or orange juice. Costs for the breakfast itself can be high if you don't shop around - I did our shopping at Asda...you can't beat Smartprice!! Make sure that your cost for the session adequately covers what you are providing! 4. You will always have some children who don't want to eat anything or have already eaten - make sure that you have some "quiet" activities for them so that they don't disrupt and distract the eaters! Can't think of anything else for now but probably will later...good luck!
Guest Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 Fantastic, I love you !!! Staff Meeting tonight and I'm going to read this out. Thank you
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