General Information

Activities

School´s Out aims to enrich children’s leisure time. Before and after school, and during school holidays, we provide an excellent range of activities, offering diverse opportunities for having fun. For children up to the end of Reception year, we offer a continuation of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) and link with our host schools to ensure continuity of child care, development and assessment.

Activities are well-planned and resourced - they offer children the chance to join in a full range of activities including art & crafts, music, dance, sport, cookery and extensive IT provision. During term-time, we run weekly workshops such as cookery and music and movement, and external specialists are invited to run one-off workshops such as Mad Science Workshops, Yoga, First Aid Workshops, KiddyCook cookery workshops or Animal Wildlife Roadshows. During the holidays, each week is packed with a variety of activities, specialist optional workshops such as archery or circus skills, and optional trips.

To see Activity Plans for current and previous Holiday Clubs, please see the section 'Registration and Activity Plans'.

A Healthy Choice

All School's Out Clubs hold a Trafford 'Healthy Club' Award, and School's Out were the first settings in the area to achieve this in 2009.

We want to provide the very best for our children and this includes promoting a healthier lifestyle. Most food for the School’s Out Clubs is prepared at Elmscot Day Nursery and Woodlands Day Nursery which have both received the Trafford Food Safety Award for exceptional standards of nutrition and food hygiene, and it is then transported to Clubs for final preparation before serving. The two exceptions are APS and the Bollin, where teas are prepared onsite by the school kitchens, following equally healthy standards. Our menus are renowned and we have often been called upon to advise and support other childcare providers: in 2002, Elmscot gained an 'Outstanding' from Ofsted for our food provision, and in 2009, Woodlands was a 'highly commended' top three finalist in the National Nursery World Awards for 'Best Food'. School's Out food is prepared at both nurseries. Our menus run over a 7 week cycle which allows tremendous variety, and are regularly reviewed by a qualified dietician. We have a strict food purchasing policy, reducing salt, saturated fat and sugar levels in the ingredients we use, and utilising wholemeal/higher fibre alternatives. Meat is purchased from Taylor & Son's of Sale, a member of the Butcher's Quality Guild, where produce is of exceptional quality and sausages are home-made. We use a local vegetable, milk and fruit juice supplier, with dry produce sourced from Sainsbury's.

We ensure there are plenty of indoor and outdoor activities offering physical exercise: in fact, physical play is one of 5 main areas of daily planning provision for every session.

School’s Out works closely with the Trafford Childcare Development Team to ensure that Clubs deliver best practice. We also work in partnership with the school and other community agencies to support children with special needs.

Sample After School Club Tea Menu

Quality

The quality of the childcare we offer is our utmost priority and everything we do, we do with quality in mind. Since School’s Out opened in 2003 we have been accredited as an Investor In People and achieved Quality Counts accreditation: a quality scheme accredited by Investors in Children and run by the National Day Nurseries Association. In 2004 School’s Out gained the Trafford Food Safety Award for nutritious and healthy meals (the latter of which has been won every year since). In 2008, our Well Green Club was awarded Outstanding in every area by Ofsted. In 2009, School's Out Clubs were the first in Trafford to earn the new 'Healthy Club' Award. These awards show that we operate at a level which exceeds the national standards set by Ofsted and we are always looking to do better.

The focus of our organisation, and the reason we strive so hard to offer the best possible service, is always the children we care for. We acknowledge the trust parents place in us and we care for children in our settings as if they were our own.

Our Team

Taking care of other people’s children is a great responsibility. All staff are thoroughly vetted (including CRB and other background checks) during recruitment. Our team of Playworkers are exceptionally well-trained, qualified and experienced to ensure the team are always aware of any child’s needs at any time and ensure that the children in our care are happy, safe and enjoying themselves. The School’s Out team offer patient guidance and constant supervision.

We exceed OFSTED-required staff:child ratios, and we exceed all statutory training requirements. We aim for all staff to be qualified in childcare, and during their first year with us obtain a First Aid and Basic Food Hygiene certificate, and have attended courses in Health and Safety and Safeguarding Children. In addition to this we support all relevant training, and offer a good employment package, ensuring a stable team.

Child and Parental Involvement

We take to heart that, outside of school hours, children need to relax, express themselves, and make positive choices about how they spend their time. We run regular surveys to allow children and parents to tell us what they think and each club has a note board where children can post their suggestions at any time.

At School’s Out, we consider flexibility to be essential and actively encourage parents to discuss any particular requirements on an on-going basis. Working in partnership with our parents, we aim to provide the best in Out-of-School activities, care and nutrition.