Extended School Questionnaire Feedback

Dear parents,

Thank you for your responses to our extended after-school provision questionnaire.  In summary the responses show a number of trends.

Highly beneficial for working parents:  The extended hours are viewed as an excellent and greatly appreciated idea that will significantly help working parents due to limited and expensive external childcare options.

Financial and logistical advantages:  Parents noted that the service will save their families a lot of money and provides reassurance that their child will be in one place for the whole day instead of having to be collected by a crèche.

Suggestions for booking and payment:  Respondents asked if booking and payment could be done monthly/per term (Booking will be carried out in advance using the school's ParentPay system), if tax-free childcare accounts could be used  (Unfortunately we will not be able to accept these as payment), and if there would be a discount for multiple children from the same household (Not currently.  We are already keeping costs significantly lower than other providers but we will revisit this once the service is established.)

Questions about service details: Inquiries were made regarding the cost for 30 minutes (There will not be an option to book for half hour slots, only full hours), whether the service would be available from Primary 1  (Yes, the service will be available for Primary 1 - Primary 7 pupils of Holy Child), if it could be booked on an ad-hoc basis  (While we can make special considerations due to emergencies we would ask parents to book a week in advance in order to ascertain staffing numbers),  would a place be guaranteed for a child with booking (Yes, booking in advance would ensure your child receives a place),  and if it would run the whole school year, including the first and last weeks  (Yes the service would run throughout the school year.  Any changes or developments would be communicated in advance).

Positive feedback on current programs: One respondent mentioned that the new after-schools program brought in on January is fantastic.

We have had a number of our wonderful support staff express interest in developing this service for our families.  Booking for this afterschool service will go live next week via the school's ParentPay, with the service officially starting on Monday 9th March.  We appreciate your support as we continue to work in partnership to serve this community.