Setting up new Wraparound childcare provision

Wraparound childcare can be run by a school, a voluntary management committee or by individuals as a private business. It can also be referred to as out of school provision.

If you are a school, you need to consider if you want to run your own wraparound provision or work with an external provider.

Models of wraparound provision for schools

Schools can choose to either set up and manage their own out of school provision or work in partnership with an external provider.

Where a school is looking to work in partnership with another provider it should consider inviting expressions of interest, taking up references and visiting any existing provision the prospective provider operates. A list of external providers interested in working with schools can be provided, email wraparoundchildcare@oxfordshire.gov.uk  

It is advisable that the school has a formal contract with the external provider which includes the spaces to be used, rent and partnership working.

You may want to consider working in partnership with local childminders.  They are able to operate from suitable non-domestic premises for up to half their time whilst still registered as a childminder.

This may provide the opportunity for schools and childminders to work together in order to provide wraparound/ out of school childcare services. This may present new opportunities to meet families’ needs where demand is low. 

Start-up funding

You are likely to incur a number of costs before you are ready to open your new business such as premises, recruiting staff and marketing.

The National Wraparound childcare programme supports the creation of new or extended wraparound provision for primary school aged children, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. Start-up funding is available where provision meets the programme’s ambitions, for more information see Wraparound childcare guidance for schools - GOV.UK

There is a grant to help with the setting up and running costs of new or extending before and after school provision during the first years only. The expectation is that the provision will be self-sustaining from fee income. For more information about the start-up funding email wraparoundchildcare@oxfordshire.gov.uk   

For other sources of funding visit our funding for community groups page.

What you need to consider

Premises

The number of children you are planning to look after will be partly determined by the size of your premises, as you need to have sufficient space for children to play safely in an indoor and outdoor environment.  You will need to consider access to outdoor play spaces and toilet facilities.

Parents prefer before and after school provision to be on the same site as their children attend school. Provision that involves children travelling by transport are often not popular with parents.

The Out of School Alliance has useful guidance.

Business planning

You should consider whether or not the wraparound provision is likely to be a viable business proposition by creating a business and financial plan. A guide on how to write a business plan and a financial forecast tool is available from the wraparound team at wraparoundchildcare@oxfordshire.gov.uk 

It is also important to think about the structure of your organisation, your business's legal status and to understand the legal responsibilities involved in operating a business. For more information:

• www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission
• www.outofschoolalliance.co.uk/business-structure

Market research

It is vital to the success of the provision that you ensure what the demand is and that the service you are aiming to provide meets the needs of local parents. This can be achieved by conducting a survey/questionnaire of the parents of the community your provision will support.

Market research is an assessment of the demand for childcare in your intended locality and will be a major factor in the likely success of the new business. You can read the Oxfordshire Childcare sufficiency market assessment which is research sample of parent demand for childcare in Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire Family Information Directory provides information on other providers in the area you are considering. 

Registering with Ofsted

Childcare businesses would usually be required to register with Ofsted. There are two registers, the Early Years Register and the Childcare Register. The Childcare register consists of two parts, the Compulsory Childcare Register and the Voluntary Childcare Register.  The Ofsted registers - Guidance

In some circumstances you may not need to register Registration exemptions - Guidance 

Registration can take up to 15 weeks to successfully complete the process.  You cannot open until you have been issued your registration certificate. 

School managed settings will come under the registration of the school.

Staffing

For wraparound provision in which the youngest children are of reception age or older, the statutory minimum staffing ratio has been reduced to 1:30 for children up to the age of eight. 

Although this is the absolute minimum legal ratio, very few clubs will be able to operate safely at this level, nor will they be able to obtain specialist childcare insurance. Ofsted will still expect you to operate using safe staffing levels and meet all the other requirements regarding care for the children as set out in the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, but it is now down to you as the provider to decide what the appropriate staffing levels are. 

We recommend that providers continue to operate at a ratio of around 1:8 for children up to the age of eight.

There is no statutory staff ratio for children aged over eight, but you must ensure that the children are kept safe. The usual recommended level is a ratio of 1:10 for children over eight.

We would recommend there are always a minimum of two members of staff on site.

Ofsted will carry out suitable person checks on the registered person before approving them; these include enhanced DBS checks, health checks and reference checks and all need to be completed before Ofsted will register your provision. The registered person is then responsible for checking the suitability of the manager (if this is a different person) and all other staff.

Qualifications and training

If your provision only takes children of reception age or above and is on either the Early Years Register or the Compulsory Childcare Register, you are no longer required by Ofsted to have staff with specific childcare or playwork qualifications, however those registered on the Voluntary Childcare Register must have a manager who holds a relevant Level 2 qualification.

You will need staff with paediatric first aid certificates, safeguarding training and safer recruitment for managers. It will be useful for staff to complete play training.

You still need to be able to demonstrate that your staff have the necessary training and experience to fulfil their roles. Most childcare insurance companies will require your provision to have some staff with a relevant Level three qualification as a condition of cover. 

Where I can access support

For support and advice on setting up wraparound provision email wraparoundchildcare@oxfordshire.gov.uk 

You can find further guidance and information on our Early years toolkit page and at Childcare works Wraparound toolkit