February Holiday
We are now taking bookings for Monday 10, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12th February. Please confirm your booking if you are paying for holidays and in-service days through your standing order.
Spaces
At the time of writing we are still operating a waiting list on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Places are available on Mondays and Fridays.
Notre Dame Pick-up Service
To help speed up gathering the children together and getting them down to the Club we are requesting that children go straight to the pick-up point (apart from P1’s and 2’s who are collected from the side door) and wait with staff until the register is complete. For safety and security reasons it is important that children line up quietly and quickly and pay attention to staff both while waiting to go and during the walk down. We would also like to ask that any arrangements for children to go home with friends are made in advance, and not at 3pm which holds everyone up while children are waiting for permission from parents. We appreciate your support with this.
BreakfastClub
As a result of a request from a parent we have relaxed our policy on not allowing children to leave the breakfast club before 8.45am. On completion of forms and agreement of risk assessment those children in P6 and P7 will be allowed to leave early to join their friends in the playground. Please ask for a form and copy of the risk assessment. Parents must sign to say the accept responsibility for their child once they leave the Club.
New P1s
If you have a younger child due to start school in August and will require after school care please complete a registration form so we can add their name to our waiting list. Siblings will get priority but we expect the usual demand for places. If you know of anyone who has enrolled at Hyndland or Notre Dame Primary who have said they intend to send their child to the Club please advise them to contact us now to complete forms and join the waiting list.
Glasgow Parks Consultation
You may have seen reference to this in the media. We would like all our parents to respond to this consultation as there are far reaching proposals which will affect all services for children and young people’s access to Glasgow Parks. In a clear contradiction of the Glasgow Play Strategy the consultation proposes that nurseries and childcare groups have to receive permission before taking groups of children to Glasgow Parks. Please see links below.
• Glasgow City Council official consultation
• Online petition
In-service days 2014
Two previously announced in-service days – 5th June and 1st October – have now been changed to 22nd May and 18th September. These are both voting dates – the European Elections and the Independence Referendum –this was decided in order to minimise the number of days when school is closed to pupils. However, we are normally open on an in-service day but not a voting day. Regret to say if our let is cancelled on those days we will not be able to operate. We will be contacting the Council as this will have an impact on our income and, may cause childcare problems for parents.
New Medical Forms
As mentioned in our previous email we now have a new Medicine Administration Policy and Authorisation Form. Please complete the new form if your child takes any form of medicine regularly.
Up-date Details
Parents were also asked in my last email to check the details we hold for you and your child. This is a Care Inspectorate requirement. Please take a minute to do this as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you
Thanks to all who bought Christmas Hamper raffle tickets or items from our craft stall at the school Christmas Fare. Combined total was £559.87. We will be consulting with the children how to spend our ‘profit’! The lucky winner of all the goodies in the hamper was Yash Malek P6 (Hyndland). Thanks also to all the generous parents who gifted wine, chocolates and biscuits to the staff – all very much appreciated.
Fee Paying
Together with our parent management board we are looking at introducing a card payment system – mainly for paying for drop-ins and holidays. We would still prefer for regular fees to be paid by standing order, but feel this is a service parents may welcome. We may have to charge a small fee – more details soon. We would welcome your views – please let us know if you think it’s a good idea – short response form attached.
We are also registered with all the main childcare voucher schemes e.g. Busy Bees, Sodexo and Computershare. Parents can save up £933 per year as a ‘salary sacrifice’ (up to £243) is made before tax and national insurance is deducted. This amount is then exchanged for vouchers. Few schemes actually involve paper vouchers – most are paid directly to us through the bank.
Staff Latest
Three members of staff who are working toward their SVQ Level 4 (Playwork/management) qualification have been asking the children and staff for their views on improving our programme, environment and resources. The areas they are looking at are the gym, up-stairs, main hall and ground to the side of the Club hall. More news as these projects progress.
Scottish Out of School Care Network (SOSCN)
SOSCN have revamped their website at www.soscn.org. The new site includes information for parents and a comprehensive guide to out of school care.