We are now reflecting on our first summer holiday club, which was an idea originally put forward by committee members at a meeting the previous November!
The idea was for a means to earn some extra income in these challenging times. But we were all surprised by how rewarding this provision was, and in the end it really wasn't about the revenue gained.
To begin with, we drew up a letter to determine interest - it would have been pointless to offer a service that wasn't needed! The response was favourable, so a month before the holidays started we devised a fair booking procedure, giving everybody a chance of securing a place of their choice.
We also spoke to our parent helpers, who had worked with us during the year, proposing that they could have a free child place if they could stay and offer this invaluable help for other parents over the summer months.
With all our sessions fully booked, we began to plan how we wanted to run our summer club. We decided on having themed days with a special focus on making lunch, because the sessions were to run from 10am to 1pm.
We sent a letter to each family explaining the theme and requested that every child brought with them some food that related to the day, so involving the children in preparing their lunch. On our rainbow themed day the children made colourful pizzas, and on our night-time themed day the children made dark dens and carrot soup.
Camping and cookies
The final summer club session had the theme of camping, which all the children loved. Fruit kebabs and campfire cookies were the highlight. The weather even stayed dry for us, which was a lovely end to the holidays.
We are currently in the process of reviewing evaluation forms on our new venture. So far the feedback has been very positive and lots of parents would like us to offer this service over the Christmas holidays as well, something we will seriously consider doing.
As for next year, the summer club will certainly happen again. It was so lovely to see the children and their families during the six weeks of school holidays. The children who came in the summer have settled back into this new term more easily - a positive outcome for everyone!