Bowes and Bounds Connected
A Community Network for Bowes Park and Bounds Green
School Holiday club - Bounds Green Area
Good Evening all,
My daughter attends Bowes Primary School and the school has in the past been able to provide holiday clubs which has been as absolute god send for working parents and was instrumental in my being able to go back to work part-time and I was hoping full-time. Now sadly due to declining attendances the school has had to withdraw this facility. At a meeting today the possibility was raised of an outside company coming in and running a club, the benefit of this being that children who do not attend Bowes school could attend as well. I though it would be interesting to see if there are other parents in the local area who would welcome the use of a holiday club. It would be great if we could provide some concrete figures and improve our chances of getting an outside company interested. The club that currently operates at Walkers school have expressed some interest, but of course it has to be financially viable for them. Bowes charged £10.50 for a half day and £22.50 for a full day and provided cover from 8:30 am to 6pm, and you could book the days that you required (not a full week, which was great for me I work 3 days a week). I am not sure how much another company would charge, but I do know that they would cover similar hours. Are you interested? Do you know people who are tearing their hair out looking for childcare provision? Can you ask at your school and see if others would be interested? I would love to hear from you, any thoughts and ideas, but mainly to get a grasp on whether the demand in this area would be sufficient..
Again there are no guarantees but if there is enough of a demand we stand a good chance.
Hester
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Claire Vale on
-
Hi. ... Would def be interested if it comes about. I have 2 kids at Tottenhall and it's always a headache getting holiday cover as our school doesn't offer it. I'm sure there are other working parents at our school who'd welcome a locally available holiday club too....
-
Permalink Reply by Shona Rose on
-
Hi. I have a son at Bounds Green school, where there is no holiday provision. I definitely know of several local parents who don't have a solution in place for the Summer and would be interested in something like this. (Have to say, for those who commute, Bounds Green school would be a much more convenient venue, as its so close to tube and overground stations)!
-
Permalink Reply by Hester Smith on -
Hi Claire, Shona & Susie, this is most encouraging, I have to say that I was pretty shocked when I learned that there we were the only school in this area that provided holiday care. But we are suffering from the if you don't use it you lose it and hence the situation we are now in. I think we would need to prove a need for at least 20-30 children over the summer period (at the moment I believe the Walkers club does 2 weeks over the summer, and also does other holidays) but if we get a high demand who knows we may get more cover. As I say this is still up in the air, but the more interest we can generate the higher our chances (sorry to keep on repeating myself).
Of course because many of us are working we don't get the 'schoolgate' network information and it is hard to know how many people really need this help, I always assumed it would be a large number of parents, but maybe I am wrong. Please ask around it would be great if we can get something in place for summer with a view to other holiday cover.
Susie, I have to say that as I have no family available to help me the holiday club was vital in getting me back to work after all who get 10 weeks holiday a year (apart from teachers and school administrators, although I know teachers are also working during 'holidays', before they get upset with me!) I wonder how many people cannot go back to work for this reason?
Hester
-
Permalink Reply by Hester Smith on
-
Hello all, I think it is so important to have something locally, I for one do not drive and it is so hard to get around without transport. It is good to know that parents from other schools need and would use a holiday club at Bowes. I am hoping greater numbers it will further our cause. So far I would say that at the moment there are an extra 10 children who would use the club so far, which added to Bowes children takes it up to around 20. I am sure there must be so many more parents out there any ideas on how to canvass more people? Hester
-
Permalink Reply by Kerstin Sailer on
-
Hi, we will definitely be in the same boat very soon! Our eldest will start school in September 2015 and we would for sure need some sort of holiday cover. So at the moment we wouldn't be part of the directly affected parents, but we'd be highly interested in the future. Thanks for the initiative Hester, this would be such a great resource to have. Good luck with it!
-
Permalink Reply by Lucy Whitehead on
-
I would be interested. My son is at Garfield. The only one we've tried is Forty Hall which is lovely, and only £18 for a whole day, but a bit far to travel..
Please keep us posted.
-
Permalink Reply by Laura Lorente-Cronin on
-
Hiya, I currently run a drama club at Bowes called Dramatise. A while back I was speaking to Di about running Dramatise in the holidays - full days, full time. I spoke to the council about hiring out a hall at the school but it was pretty expensive. I'm a Parent and I want to be able to offer affordable performing arts classes to children. My idea was to run Dramatise for two full weeks, working towards putting on a performance for Parents. I also have a friend who is a puppet maker who was keen to run this with me. Maybe we can put our heads together and come up with something that works???
Laura
Connecting the communities of Bowes Park and Bounds Green in north London.
Featured Content
Translate this website
© 2024 Created by Richard McKeever.
Powered by
