Roberta (General Enquiries): tel:07535 293 788
Jenny (After School Club and Holiday Club): 07847 479 626 manager@schoolsouthenleaze.co.uk www.schoolsouthenleaze.co.uk
Dear Families,
After School Club
Normal service has resumed and After School Club is back up. We have expanded, utilizing an extra room in the Infants’ School to accommodate all our new Reception children and ensure there’s plenty of space to play and frolic, even in inclement weather.
That said, we believe time spent outside, even in rain, is vital to a child’s development and wellbeing. We are so lucky to have ample green space outdoors and will be using the playgrounds and encouraging everyone to play outdoors unless the weather makes it absolutely impossible. With that – and the increasingly changeable weather – in mind, please remember to send your child to school with a coat/waterproof if you detect even the slightest chance of rain. We only have so many spare SOH hoodies to lend out.
Holiday Club
Summer Holiday Club, the biggest, busiest and barmiest part of our year has drawn to a close. Stretching over seven weeks, it was a non-stop (apart from weekends) cavalcade of activities, games, snacks, treats and many, many water-fights. This writer lost count of how many times he strolled home with sopping wet socks and a smile on his face.
Anyone who’s interested can find details of all the planned activities we ran over summer on our website, so I’d like to tell you about some of the other great fun we had:
Committee
Did you know that School’s Out Henleaze was set up by working parents to provide affordable childcare and is run by a committee of parent volunteers to this day. The Committee are directors of the scheme and keep operations running as cost efficiently as possible. We have several places becoming available on the committee this November and we are keen to place a new Chair, effective immediately. If your child has been enjoying School’s Out Henleaze and you would like to give back to the scheme we would love to hear from you.
You would need to attend six committee meetings per year and ideally have some management/business/education skills that would benefit School’s Out Henleaze. Please see our Committee page on our website and email the administrator for more details.
Remember priority places are provided to committee members.
A note from Katie, our Chair up to November 2021
I’ve been chair of SOH for 3 years. It mainly consists of running the 6 meetings we have a year and occasionally picking up urgent points (usually along with at least one other committee member) in between those meetings. All or virtually all of the committee members have roles – eg treasurer, school liaison/ “HR”, staff liaison, health and safety, safeguarding, debtor and complaints and so on. And I’d say that the chair role takes up, if anything, less time than some of the other roles. However we’re particularly looking for a chair because we have people with appropriate experience in most of the other roles: eg an HR professional in the staff liaison role, social worker in the child protection role, health and safety professional as the H&S representative etc. By contrast, picking up as chair doesn’t require any particular background and we have a seasoned committee, who have carried us very successfully through COVID, to help guide you through!
If you’re interested, I’d be happy to talk in more detail about the post…
Volunteers
In addition to taking on a brand-new member of staff (keep one eye on our Who’s Who section in the coming months) we welcomed back some of our past alumni as volunteers. Folks who, once upon a time, came to School’s Out Henleaze to be looked after are now helping look after others. We take on volunteers from age 14 to help run activities, help new children get settled in. Some of them are working towards Duke of Edinburgh awards, some just love to come back and play. For us grown-ups, we love the extra help and we love to see how they’re getting on. Cal is not best pleased that they’re almost all taller than him now.
Talent Shows
We had several of these over the summer featuring songs, gymnastics, card tricks and slapstick. It’s always a delight to watch everyone share their skills, support each other and lift each other up (literally, in the case of some of the performers). And with our child judges awarding all performers a score of at least 9.0/10, you know there was a mighty high standard all around.
The Airport
Over the last couple of days something pretty amazing happened. A trio of children started giving each other rides across the floor, pulled in blankets. As a gaggle of other children formed, all wanting a go, it became apparent that some sort of queueing system was needed. So, before long, an airport had been built. A ticket desk with receptionists handing out numbered tickets to any child’s preferred destination. A Departures Lounge where ticket-holders could wait to board their flight. A security station where some fairly boisterous security guards scanned passengers and maintained the peace whilst being by far the loudest people in the airport. A PA system announcing the next flight. It was a wonderful, collaborative, creative game that involved dozens of children at its peak, entirely conceived, built and managed by children. A shining example of the importance and value of child-led free play opportunities.
Reception Intake
We can’t wait to meet all the new Reception children! In fact, some of them couldn’t wait to meet us and came along to Holiday Club over the summer. Some had so much fun they’re that they’ve already started coming along to ASC even though they’ve yet to start school! If you’re a parent of a child just starting in reception, feel free to email us with any questions you might have. Our Early Years Key Workers will come out to meet you when you come to collect your child and will be very happy to talk you through any worries or concerns. It really is adorable how nervous some parents can get on their first few days!
Pokémon Cards
As with other toys brought from home, we cannot take responsibility for these and ask them to be left home wherever possible.
Extra-Curricular Clubs and Activities
If your child is attending another club before School’s Out, please can you text the ASC phone and include where and when you would like us to pick up your child. If you would like your child to walk themselves over, we would still like you to tells us where they will be and what time we can expect them at School’s Out. You may also need to discuss this arrangement with the staff at your child’s club.
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.
Website
If you would like information about After School Club and Holiday Club, including details of our staff team, committee members, activity programs, or policies, please visit our website here. We keep it regularly updated, and as always, welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Pick-Up Times
We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the parents sticking to our pick-up times of 5.45 for After School Club and 5.30 for Holiday Club. Please continue to give us a call on 07847 479626 when you have arrived to collect your child.
Who’s Who
The legend herself. She works tirelessly for children and staff alike. It’s… Jennifer Tighe!
Jenny is the manager of the holiday club and after school club and has worked here for 19 years. Jenny is a qualified teacher, and has her Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in playwork. Her favourite bits of the job are hanging out with the children and seeing how much enthusiasm and enjoyment the playworkers have for their work. Outside of work Jenny enjoys travelling, yoga and swimming, and has recently taken up aerial hoop. She also has a pet hamster called Hammy!
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: loombandsloombandsloom bandsloombandsloombandsloombands
“Please can we have some magnetic toys?”loombandsloombandsloombandsloom bandsloombandsloombands
WE DID:
We have ordered a variety of magnetic resources
(…and some looms bands!)
THANK YOU for your continued support!