Booking Your Lookout Club Sessions

About us

Breakfast and After School Club

Lookout Club is run by Meldreth Primary School and exists to provide high quality out-of-school hours childcare for our parents. It provides a range of stimulating and creative activities in a safe environment. The club operates from 7.40 — 8.40am and from 3.10 - 6.00pm term time only.

We have worked hard to ensure that our provision works alongside our wider protective measures during the current pandemic.

Will my children be in the same group?

We have relocated the club to the school hall to ensure that children have the biggest and best ventilated space in school. All children will now be together, so siblings can play together again. We will only resume bubbles if required to implement our contingency plan to take extra measures to help break chains of transmission

What is the guidance on breakfast/after school clubs provision?

Government Guidance,  can be found here.  

Payment of Fees

 

The current fees are:

Breakfast club

  • £5.25 per child per session (£3.94 for a second child)

 Afterschool club

  • £5.25 from 3-4.30pm (£3.94 for a second child)
  • £7.75 from 3-5.15pm (£5.82 for a second child)
  • £10.00 from 3-6.00pm (£7.50 for a second child)

Bookings can be made and paid for via our new online booking system on your 'My Child at School' (MCAS) account. Fees are payable in advance via your MCAS account or childcare vouchers. We can no longer accept cash.

We accept Government childcare vouchers and those from the following schemes Apple childecare; Busy Bees; CARE-4; Computershare; Edenred; EnjoyBenefits; faircare; Fideliti; Kiddivoucher; Sodexo and Voucher Systems Limited.

The price per session per child applies to all children. This is payable for all booked sessions including when your child is sick, or on holiday (regardless of the amount of notice given). We do not charge for bank holidays and professional training days – as our club will not always run on these days.

Please ensure that fees are paid promptly. Non-payment for more than one month may result in your place being terminated. If you are having difficulty paying fees, please speak in confidence to the Headteacher

Changes to days and cancelling your place

Please give our Play leaders one month's notice of termination or of changes in attendance. If you need to change the days that your child attends, please contact the Playleaders or email lookout@meldreth.cambs.sch.uk. We try to accommodate such changes wherever possible.  

Late changes

Please remember that we need to know if your child will not be attending the Club for any reason. Please ensure that you contact school via email to Lookout@meldreth.cambs.sch.uk giving us as much notice of the change as possible. If your child doesn't attend a booked session, we will have to treat them as a 'missing child' unless you have notified us of their absence and you may still be charged.

If you know in advance of any days when your child will not be attending during the following week, please try to let us know by THURSDAY at the latest. In cases of illness or emergency when notice cannot be given, please call as soon as you can. 

Induction

You and your child are welcome to visit the Club before your child's first day, to familiarise yourselves with the setting and to help your child settle in. The induction will include running through Club's provision, and introducing your child to the staff and other children. Another child will usually be allocated to act as your child's buddy for the first few sessions.

Arriving for Breakfast club

Morning drop off is available from 7.40am each morning. Children should arrive at the school office and use hand sanitiser when entering the club. During the morning session children are well cared for and provided with a breakfast and a drink where requested. The children have the opportunity to play games and enjoy social activities before being escorted to class bases at 8.40am.

At the end of the school day

Children from Puffin, Swift and Wren classes will be collected from their classrooms and brought to the club by our playleaders. Children have plenty of open space to play in outside too.

Collection from After School Club

Children will be escorted to the main school gate at 4:30 and 5:15pm where they can be collected. We expect that your child will normally be collected by the people you have named on your MCAS account. If you need a different person to collect your child on a particular day, please notify us in advance. We will not release your child into the care of a person unknown to us without your authorisation.

The club finishes at 6pm. If you are delayed for any reason please telephone the Club mobile to let us know. A late payment fee of £15 (per 30 minutes or part of) will be charged if you collect your child after the Club has closed. This will make a contribution towards any additional staff wages and site staff costs incurred.

Child Protection

We are committed to building a 'culture of safety' in which the children in our care are protected from abuse and harm. Any suspicion of abuse is promptly and appropriately responded to. We comply with local and national child protection procedures and ensure that all staff are appropriately trained. For more details see our school Safeguarding Policy on our website.

If your child remains uncollected after 6:15pm (15 minutes after your club closes) and you have not warned us that you will be delayed, and we have been unable to reach you or any of your emergency contacts, we will follow our Uncollected Children Policy and contact the Social Care team in order to safeguard your

Equal opportunities

Our Club provides a safe and caring environment, free from discrimination, for everyone in our community including children with additional needs.

  • We respect the different racial origins, religions, cultures and languages in a multi-ethnic society so that each child is valued as an individual without racial or gender stereotyping.
  • We will challenge inappropriate attitudes and practices
  • We will not tolerate any form of racial harassment.

Children with additional needs

We make every effort to accommodate and welcome any child with additional needs. We will work in liaison with parents or carers and relevant professionals to fully understand your child's specific requirements. We will endeavour to accommodate all children, whilst working within the Club's limitations. Each case will be considered individually and risk-assessed to ensure everyone's safety.

Our staff training programme includes specific elements relating to children with specific needs.

Our Positive Behaviour Policy

Our Club promotes an atmosphere of care, consideration and respect for everyone attending, children, staff and visitors. We encourage appropriate behaviour through praise for good behaviour; emphasis on cooperative play and sharing; talking to children with the courtesy that we expect from them and engaging children in activities

The Club follows school procedures for dealing with unacceptable behaviour. We recognise that poor behaviour can occur from time to time for reasons that are not always evident, or as a result of special needs. We will try to be flexible in order to accommodate such cases.

However, if your child is violent, or if their behaviour poses an immediate danger to themselves or others, we will require you to collect them from the Club immediately. In exceptional circumstances, and only when all other attempts at behaviour management have failed, we reserve the right to permanently exclude a child from the Club. Illness

We are unable to care for children who are unwell. If your child becomes unwell whilst at the Club we will contact you and ask you to make arrangements for them to be collected.

Please inform our Play leaders of any infectious illness your child contracts. If your child has had sickness or diarrhoea please do not send them to the Club for 48 hours after the illness has ceased.

Accidents and First Aid

Every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of the children at all times, and the Club is fully insured. Our staff are trained in paediatric first aid and a first aid kit is kept in each group area. If your child has an accident whilst in our care, you will be informed when you collect your child.

Medication

Please let  Playleaders know if your child is taking prescribed medicine. If your child needs to take medicine whilst at the Club you will need to complete a Permission to administer medication form in advance.

Complaints Procedure

If you have any queries, comments or need to discuss any matters concerning your child, please feel free to speak to a Playleader, or any other member of staff. Verbal complaints will be brought to the next staff meeting for discussion and action. 

Our Pledge to Parents

We value our relationship with parents/carers and are committed to working in partnership with you to provide top quality play and care for your children. We will:

  • Welcome you at all times to discuss our work, have a chat or take part in our activities.  Keep you informed of opening times, fees and charges, programmes of activities, menus, and procedures.
  • Be consistent and reliable to enable you to plan with confidence and peace of mind.  Share and discuss your child's achievements, experiences, progress, and friendships.
  • Be available to discuss decisions about running the club.
  • Ask your permission for outings and special events.
  • Listen to your views and concerns to ensure that we continue to meet your needs. 
Look Out Club

Tel: 01763260432 option 2

lookout@meldreth.cambs.sch.uk