'It's not home-time already!' 'Mum, let me just finish this.' 'Pleeeease go shopping and come back later. I'm building this space ship with Charlie.'
Do children from your club wish the fun could last longer? Running fun days on school in-service days could be the answer.
In Eastbourne there are 25 infant and junior schools, each holding around five in-service days on various dates throughout the year. We thought this was a great opportunity to offer children the chance to enjoy longer sessions at their after-school club.
Fortunately, we are able to use our after-school club venue for fun days.
If your usual venue is used by other groups during the day, a school might let you use their sports hall. Remember to let parents with children at after-school clubs at other schools know the temporary change of location.
Staffing cover
We have a staff pool for fun days, made up of after-school club playworkers and school ancillary staff (lunchtime and classroom assistants). Staff work from 8.30am-4.30pm or 10.30am-6.30pm.
Diana works as a classroom assistant and an after-school club playworker.
She also works on fun days. She enjoys them because for most of the day there are fewer children so there is time to give individual attention, to play longer board games and carry out larger crafts projects.
Frances works as a lunchtime assistant. She thinks fun days are a great way of learning to be a playworker.
Children and playworkers (including me) enjoy fun days because they allow time for activities which would not usually fit into the after school session. We've enjoyed:
* manhunts
* treasure hunts
* sports
* picnics in the park
* outings to the cinema
* laser quest and bowling.
We've also made giant animal models, turned the venue into a giant theme park and had staff versus children water battles - outside in summer! We've also cooked and eaten lunch together.
Insurance and registration
Our fun days are covered by our after-school club and playschemes insurance. A quick phone call will determine whether you need to change yours to cover a fun day. You will need a separate policy if you use a different venue.
Your current Ofsted registration will cover fun days provided you let Ofsted know when you are running them. Ofsted will also want the names of staff who will be working. You can run a club from any school for less than five days a year, without being registered. Your local Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) will be able to advise you.
Publicity
Dates of in-service days are printed in school newsletters so it makes sense to use these for publicity. Allow parents plenty of advance notice.
We also try to have a playworker attending school fetes because:
* the children love to show us to their friends
* we can promote all our out-of-school clubs at once
* children and parents can look at our leaflets, fancy feet junk models, pasta fantastic jewellery and funky photographs to see what we do and * it forges a good relationship with the school.
If you are running a fun day at a school you will need time to transport games and crafts equipment, and to set up. A mobile phone will ensure parents can contact you there. Give out slips with the phone number when parents deliver their children.
Tempting activities
A welcome sign with 'A Visit to Hogwarts' or 'A Trip to Outer Space,' 'Fame Academy' or 'Art Extravaganza' sets the day's theme. Sort them into Slytherin, Griffendor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw by spinning a dial while they each wear a wizard's hat. They could pass through a decontamination bay, have their picture taken for your files or sign in with paint on a giant canvas.
After this, icebreaker games are a good way to start the action.
Who or what am I?
Put a sticky label on every back with the name of a toy, game, pop star, band, or something in line with the day's theme. Everyone asks one question of every other person, to try to discover who or what they are. To make this harder others can only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
All sorts
The play leader calls out criteria which could include: hair colour, pets, smelly/clean socks, ability to touch nose with tongue, favourite band and so on. Everybody else gets into these groups as fast as possible.
Yes or no
Everybody is given five counters. The game starts and a timer is set. All players must make conversation with each other giving a counter to anyone they answer 'yes' or 'no' to. The winner is the one with the most counters when the timer goes off.
Body parts
Players dance to music. The play leader stops it periodically, calling two body parts, for example, nose to knee, or foot to bottom each time.
Everybody finds somebody and puts these body parts together (you can allow two or three to a group to cater for odd numbers). The last to join up are out.
On with the show
After this everybody should be relaxed enough to enjoy the activities.
Making a stage, dressing up, hairstyles, and singing practice in the morning will whisk children to Fame Academy. They could junk-model rockets, spaceships and gadgets, or a giant spaceship which could be used for a space play. At Hogwarts they could make life-size portraits with moving eyes, or combine food colourings, vinegar and cornflour for magic potions.
Our fun days are structured with plenty of scope for change. Usually the children are so involved in the first activity that they barely want to stop for a drinks break. Those children who finish early or want a change afterwards could join parachute games or races with planetary or Hogwarts teams, or make a giant stage collage with stars cut from magazines.
The afternoon could include a trip out to the park, time for children to finish models started earlier, or practice for their 'show'. You could run a team quiz, or team activities - fastest team to complete a puzzle, build a space ship or wrap the playworker as a mummy using toilet rolls - they love this! The day could end with the Space Play or Fame Academy performance.
Student comments
Fun days on school in-service days are vital for student parents attending our nearby college as well as working parents. Here are some of their comments:
* 'What a brilliant idea, I would have to take a day off if it wasn't for you.'
* 'My children are at different schools which always have different in-service days. I used to use up my holiday entitlement taking days off to cater for them.'
* 'I'm so grateful I didn't have to take the day off college, I had an important exam and nobody to care for Katie.'
And the kids
Children enjoy fun days because lower numbers of children means more staff attention for them. Jenny is ten and has attended two fun days. 'At first I thought it was a bit of a con that everyone was off school and I still had to go somewhere, but it ended up great. There were ten of us and we took our lunch to the park and played manhunt and catch the flag.'
Declan is six and came to a fun day in the spring - he also attends the after-school club. 'Fun days are quieter but still fun and you get to have a go on more things.'
Carlos also likes them because, 'There's no teachers, no lessons, no school dinners, no boring playground, just a day full of fun!'
10 STEPS TO A FUN DAY
1 Contact schools to find out the dates of forthcoming fun days.
2 Decide on a venue
3 Contact Ofsted and your local EYDCP.
4 Find out which staff are available.
5 Arrange insurance cover.
6 Ask the school to put a notice in their newsletter with your contact number.
7 Provide the school with booking and registration forms including your contact number and if using the school as the venue, a mobile phone number for contact on the day.
8 Take bookings. Type a register and the checklist of children attending, for parents to tick in and sign out on the day.
9 Decide on a theme. Plan the structure and activities of the day.
10 Order or purchase equipment and set the venue up ready for the day's activities. Ensure you have a first aid kit.
