Features

15 hours...offering flexibility in a shared space

Providers who use shared space in a community building can sometimes encounter difficulties when moving from a sessional model to delivering the free entitlement. Community buildings often have many users, limiting the hours a provider can open or extend. James Hempsall outlines how one provider has overcome these problems

Playdays pre-school and playscheme in Sutton is privately owned and operates from shared space in three rooms in the Friends Meeting House. The pre-school offers the 15 hours free entitlement for a maximum of 24 children, aged from two to rising five years, each day. Playdays is open five days a week for 38 weeks a year, except on Tuesday afternoons as the building is used for other purposes. Despite this hurdle, it now offers a comprehensive 15-hour flexible package. Families can use a variety of sessions: mornings five days a week; afternoons on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; and full days on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 9am to 3pm.

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