Roberta (General Enquiries): 07847588 203
Jenny (After School Club and Holiday Club): 07847 479 626 manager@schoolsouthenleaze.co.uk
Dear Families,
After School Club
The first half of the summer term was a busy one at After School Club. We were outside as much as the weather would allow, playing cricket, football and Blind Tag, and making a fair amount of mud pies. The year threes invented several new games including Defend the Base, a team game with children trying to prevent the many footballs entering their “base”, and Fruit Wars, which kept the children engaged until the very last minute of After School Club.
Over at the infants, the playworkers have helped the children to make swings with big bits of fabric slung over the Thinking Tree, and the year ones have enjoyed playing a playground version Among Us, which seems to be a more complicated version of Wink Murder that also involves tasks and emergency meetings.
Holiday Club
We also had lots of fun at Holiday Club during half term, where we welcomed children from Henleaze and (for the first time in a while) children from schools other than Henleaze. It was nice to see some familiar faces return, and meet some new children too. The weather was amazing so we took full advantage of it and spent lots of time outside making chalk pictures and hopscotches, playing frisbee and the seasonal favourite of creating hammocks all over the playground.
Inside the children used the large array of junk modelling and loose parts to make everything from robot outfits, to shops, to SWAT armour and shield. We also hosted a quiz that got children (and staff!) debating the actual colour of orange juice, made some beautiful origami butterflies and also tried hard to catch each other out with wordsearches the children made themselves.
Summer Holiday Club – Bookings Now Open!
We are running weekdays based at Henleaze Infant School, from Thursday 22nd July - Wednesday 1st September and are open to all children (Henleaze Infant/Juniors as well as other local schools). Full day (8.15-17.30) or half day (08.15-13.00/13.00-17.30) sessions are available and you can choose how many days you want to attend. We will follow government guidance regarding pods.
We'll be making the most of all the outside space and fresh air and alongside the activities below, our Playworkers will be running lots of sporting activities throughout the day, including football, cricket, rounders, hockey, tennis etc for the children to join in with if they wish to. We also have a drawing and making table, construction equipment, quiet area, den building, pool table, table football, table tennis, Wii and lots of other toys, books and equipment for the children to play with, as well as our amazing team of Playworkers! We have a staff / child ratio of 1:8 and welcome children between the ages of 4 and 12 (pre-school 4-year-olds may attend during the summer holidays only).
Absence and Clubs
Please let us know on 07847479626 if your child won’t be attending After School Club, or
if they will be attending an extra-curricular club before coming to us. Where possible please leave day to day messages on the phone number, rather than by emailing Jenny or Roberta who may not pick up your message in time. (Or maybe on holiday!)
The latest guidance regarding covid can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
We have your children and our staff’s best interests at heart by enforcing these exclusion periods. By bringing your poorly child in you are putting other families (and our staff) at risk. Thank you for your support.
Cancelling Holiday Club Places
Please note that once booked, Holiday Club places cannot be cancelled. In exceptional circumstances we will consider cancelling a booked place, but not on a regular basis.
Free Play
School’s Out Henleaze promotes free play wherever possible. Free play means unstructured, voluntary, child-initiated activity that allows children to develop their imaginations while exploring and experiencing the world around them. This kind play is beneficial to children’s development in three main ways.
The first is social development through roleplaying scenarios such as trips to the hospital, shopping or holidays. These sorts of games help children learn how to interact with each other, support their emotional development and mental wellbeing.
The second important way free play helps children is by encouraging cognitive development and problem solving through finding creative solutions and being supported to work things out on their own. This covers games such as den building and making hammocks, as the children work together to find the best way to design and build their creations with the given tools and equipment.
Thirdly, free play supports children’s physical development. We can enable this at School’s Out Henleaze with the wide range of climbing and other play equipment available to the children, and promotes the kinds of games that encourage physical challenge such as running, jumping, pushing, pulling and climbing, to lighter activities such as balancing or manoeuvring objects requiring dexterity.
Free play also has an impact in many other areas, such as reinforcing classroom learning, language, culture, and perhaps most importantly, allows children to be children!
Staff News
We would like to welcome Johnny, Rebecca and Allegra to our team. They will be working at after school club and will be working in the holidays too. Amazingly they all used to attend School’s Out when they were younger so know how important playworkers are in making the club a fun place to be for the children.
If you don’t already, please follow us on Facebook. We post lots of useful information, such as when we open for bookings, any last-minute places that are available in Holiday Club, as well as lots of photos of the children playing.
Who’s Who
Sam joined our team in 2020 as a Playworker.
He has been mostly working in the year three pod, and has gotten to know them really well.
Sam loves helping the children invent new games to play, inside and out.
Outside of work Sam enjoys writing, history, music, hiking around the world, and also follows football closely.
You Said, We Did
Each newsletter we will share with you how we have responded to feedback from either an adult or a child. Your feedback is very important to us, and we welcome your comments.
You Said:
“Please can we have some more nets to make hammocks with?”
- J, Year 2
“Can we get a magnetic chess set?”
- M, Year 6
We Did:
We have provided several more nets and fabric for making dens and hammocks outside.
We have purchased several chess sets for the junior pods, including a magnetic one for year 6.
THANK YOU for your continued support!