Guest Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 Hi there, we are starting up a toddler group in our brand new pre-school (on school premises)which will have two paid leaders to run it and will be inviting in hairdressers (for kids), baby signer, health visitor(booked in advance), etc, etc as well as guest speakers. Anyone who will do it for free, but may want to ask for donations from the parents. We will provide music time, crafts, snacks/drinks for adults and children and will have access to our new outdoor area as well. In order for us to cover costs, I suggested £3.00 per two child family/group with 50p per extra child that attends, however, some feel that this is not enough, whilst others think it should be £1.00! I have had to point out that we do not receive funding for this and will have to cover the cost of paying the leaders. Do you have an opinion good or bad so I can come to a conclusion - is £3.00 too much?
Guest MaryEMac Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 We run a tots group in our playgroup and up to Easter the charge is £1.50 per adult and one child plus 50p per extra child. Obviously the playgroup doesn't want to subsidise them unless necessary and they have only been just breaking even, so from Easter the charge will rise to £2.00 per adult and one child plus 50p per extra child. I must admit that I think it should be more as the pg has to employ a co-ordinator, rent, utilities, refreshments etc. I imagine that this will be reviewed annually. Mary
Guest Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 I suppose you would have to think about the area you are in. Could parents afford and would be willing to pay this amount? How long is the session for? You don't want to price it too high as nobody will use it but you obviously can't afford to let it run at a loss. I know where I am most parents could afford this and, depending on what was being offered in the way of activities etc., would be willing to pay it. Linda
AnonyMouse_705 Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 We charge £2.00 per family for the 1 1/2 hour session plus a cup of tea and a drink for the child/children. We provide craft materials. This is for one member of staff. Parents stay. We've been charging this for about a year now as before the fee was not covering the costs and it we had to try to ensure that our pre-school was not subsidizing it. Numbers are now very healthy. Could you split the difference and charge £2.50, sounds slightly better than £3, in the hope that more people will attend to cover your costs and then review it say in 6 months. Obviously difficult thing to judge given that you have the wages of 2 members of staff to pay. £1 does seem very cheap. Good luck
Guest Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 We charge £1.75 for parent and one child. Additional children are an extra 50p each. The parents stay with their children. The session is one and a half hours long with one member of staff and includes snacks and drinks for parents and children. Sally
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 perhaps a costing exercise... how many attending would you need to cover costs at various prices. If everyone paid 1 pound would you get enough numbers to cover costs. I know you wont know how many will attend but you could realistically guess that if it takes say 30 + families each session could you attract that number. Include wages paid , if any rent, drinks etc if providing them etc etc . we charged a nominal fee but it was a while ago and it was run by volunteers with no rent to pay! Could also subsidise by having weekly raffle.. we used to ask local businesses for small items and raffle 3 a week.. or we had one mum donate a cake to raffle each week. Inge
Guest Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 You have to cover your overheads or the group wont be sustainable. I used to support toddler groups and the prices they charged ranged from £1 - £3, however all of the groups I supported had a volunteer running them so no wages to pay just rent and resources. It would be good to work out how many your venue could accomodate to estimate how much you would need to charge to cover, wages, rent, resources etc and if you have all of this info and provide a quality service you can justify why you have to charge what you do. Could you contact your local Children's Centre, they should have a toddler support worker who may be able to offer you further advice and support. Paula
AnonyMouse_480 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 We have just started a parent and toddler group in our school hall. We charge £1.00 per family as we dont have to pay rent. We run from 1.30pm to 3.00pm and provide all resources that are available to the pre school children. We do not have to pay wages as staff are deployed where needed. The coffee lady is my mum! Would be interested in hearing more about baby sign. We do a 15 min music time at the end of session using percussion instruments and rhyme prompts. Only been open two weeks and has been very busy.
AnonyMouse_9850 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 Speaking as a parent of a 4 year old, i would be happy to pay £2 for a mums and tots, £3 i feel is a little costly. Although saying that the ones i used to use (last year) were 75p and donations. These inculded coffee, biscuits and drinks for children. Our local wacky warehouse is only £2.50.
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