When asked to define play and to determine its value we may struggle to capture its elusiveness. However, when you ask an adult to remember their play as a child they mostly have no problem describing a host of times they engaged in play-chase, tag, den building, climbing trees, skipping, and role play.
The impulse to play comes from within the child and is deliberate only in the sense of being about what interests children themselves at that particular time. Play allows the child freedom where the interest of others recedes into the background.
Cambridgeshire County Council is committed to supporting high-quality before/after school and holiday club provision by enabling settings to develop high-quality opportunities for children’s play.
Support is offered in a number of ways:
- The Playwork - Beyond Quality Framework has been designed using the playwork principles and latest play research and offers support and guidance around Ofsted Inspections. It is designed to support settings in undertaking ongoing, evidence-based self-evaluation and to give indicators as to how to further improve practice
- Out-of-school membership offer
- Out-of-school hubs take place termly. They are hosted by a different out-of-school setting each time and take place in East Cambridgeshire, Cambridge City, and Fenland. To join please get in touch with your Early Years Adviser
Guidance for setting up a Breakfast Club
Breakfast clubs can be an important way of supporting a whole school's focus on healthy lifestyles as well as supporting working parents and vulnerable children. Breakfast clubs allow children to have a healthy breakfast in a safe and secure environment before school and can be particularly essential for families who do not have the resources or the time to provide breakfast for their children. They are able to offer children a social environment to have breakfast with their peers. The food provided in breakfast clubs is still expected to follow the healthy food policies that schools follow throughout the day.
Outcomes for children Evidence shows that providing a healthy school breakfast at the start of the school day can contribute to improved readiness to learn, increased concentration, and improved well-being and behaviour.
Considerations:
- Style of breakfast club, for example, no childcare but supervised open access style (cereal, fruit, toast) 30 minutes before school opens, before school staffed childcare with breakfast (cereal, toast, fruit) from 7.30 am.
- Will this service be fully subsidised or nominally charged for FSM, pupil premium and vulnerable families?
- How will you staff it?
- Will you use volunteers (subject to checks)?
- How will you subsidise/nominally charge it for certain families?
- What will the full cost fees be?
- Where will it run from (school hall, classroom, etc)?
- Surveying all parents (example survey).
- External/government funding is available.
- Community donations/funding.
- What will be the ethos of the club?
- Could the pupil premium be used to support eligible children to attend the breakfast club?
Governance options
Staffing requirements for primary children attending a breakfast club of statutory school age and above.
'There must be sufficient staff as for a class of 30 children. Providers must determine how many staff are needed to ensure the safety and welfare of children bearing in mind activity, age and needs of children. The provider must determine what qualifications (if any) the manager/staff should have. (3.41).' - Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework.
The safety and welfare of the staff must be considered when agreeing on ratios. The best practice would be to complete a risk assessment and to ensure that staff are not working alone.
