AnonyMouse_30128 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 hi... i have been approached by two of my staff requesting the opportunity to run holiday playschemes in the pre-school building. I am not against this...both of them are experienced and will run it the way that i would expect but i am unsure as to the best way forward with how to set it up....would it be better to have it as a 'sub branch'of the pre-school or to set it up as a completely new entity? does anyone have any experience of something similar and can give me some ideas of a way forward.I have suggested that they do a survey and start to complete a business plan for me...but now wondering about how we organise wages etc etc
AnonyMouse_19920 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 hi i dont have any experience of this but think that the first thing to do would be to send out a survey/questionnaire to see if this is wanted - how many would access it,how often and perhaps most important of all how much they would be willing to pay. you could also start working out costings - cost of room,staff etc and work out how many children would be needed to make this viable. you also need to consider what resources they would be using - would they be the pre-schools - if so what happens if they break the resources - we had a problem with an after school club who "shared" our resources but found this didnt really work as their age range wasnt 2-4 as ours but 4-11 so the majority of their children were actually too old for the resources. lots of things to consider x
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I did this a few years back after parents approached my boss to set up a holiday thingy but she wasn't really interested. I rang Ofsted to check, and the insurance company that I'd be covered and took it from there. I obviously checked all the wellfare requirements and so on to make sure I was 'legal' and purchased some additional resources so that I could bring in some older children (mostly siblings of children currently attending). I did a new registration form for those children whose details we didn't currently hold, and made sure new parents had access our standard pre-school policies and so on. I'm not sure this is terribly helpful in your situation, but my boss was happy for me to fund it all from within the fees I could charge and retain any excess. Staff were more than happy to work during the holidays, parents were delighted and I got a bit of a taste of being boss! There were spin offs for the group too because I subsequently donated the additional materials and resources I had purchased. Looking back I'm not sure how legal it all was, but at least Ofsted was informed and our insurance confirmed that we were covered in the event of any mishap!
Guest Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 (edited) Have a look on the out of school alliance website it has some useful tips. Edited October 2, 2011 by Guest
Guest Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 (edited) Have a look on the out of school alliance website it has some useful tips. oops seeing double lol Edited October 2, 2011 by Guest
AnonyMouse_8457 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 How funny - I was asking about that website the other day! I paid hte £30 and joined up - it's really useful. If it's any help we have done the same. We have separate budgets for each thing - I think breakfast and after school are together, then holiday club, then pre-school. This was easier when we didn't share a building as all resources were separate (we got a start up grant). We are now sharing a building but have managed to have separate areas of resources for items that are not suitable for all ages and then we share what is shareable IYSWIM. The pre-school plans take ASC into account - especially outside provision. For example we had bikes out last week but the smaller ones got put away after pre-school and we just left out the hand carts and scooters for ASC. However the weeks we've had the climbing frame or slide we've left them. It works quite well as pre-school get hte heavy stuff out of the garage and the ASC put them away so quite fair! We do the same with any messy play, pre-school cleans up and resets and if it gets used ASC do the same, if it isn't used it's left ready for the morning. GOing back to the money though, you need to be careful that pre-school doesn't end up bailing ASC out. Try and get a start up grant - especially if you can prove it's needed in the area. Good luck!
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 thanks all info very helpful...just wondering how to set up pay... if they do this independently then they will pay emergency tax...if i get the admin to do it then they will have to pay for that....any ideas???
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 Well it all depends. If you leave it to them, let them keep any profit and so on, then they are going to have to take a view about wages. They could agree to do it between themselves: split costs/fees and so on equally and then declare the resulting income to the tax man. Otherwise they will have to formally register as an employer, and as you say everyone will have to pay tax at the full rate. Mind you, they'd then need to fill in a self assessment form, and they'd probably get a small rebate at the end of the year. Technically speaking if they go down this route they'll need to register with Ofsted as an out of school group, with all that entails (although this might depend on how long their sessions are likely to be). The other option is to appoint an out of school manager, let them do all the work but put everything through pre-school's books. Personally I'd say this would be the safest option in terms of safeguarding your setting's professional reputation, especially if they are using your Ofsted registration to set up and run. That would mean that any complaints made against the group would affect your registration even though you had nothing to do with it at all. I know you trust and respect your staff and don't expect to have any problems, but strange things happen. Its a lot more complicated than your staff probably thinks it is, isn't it?
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