BREAKFAST CLUB
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – please scroll down for answers
1. Who is the Breakfast Club for?
2. Who will be looking after my child?
3. What are the opening times?
4. What food is available?
5. What activities are offered at the club?
6. How do I book regular sessions?
7. My child is going to be absent, what should I do?
8. How do I cancel sessions?
9. How can I change my regular sessions?
10. How can I book ad hoc sessions?
11. Can I just send my child in without notice?
12. What are the fees?
13. Who and When do I pay?
14. I don’t understand how my charge has been calculated?
15. Which methods of payment do you accept?
16. How do Childcare Vouchers work?
17. I am struggling to pay – what should I do?
18. What should I do if I am not happy about something?
BREAKFAST CLUB
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – ANSWERS
1. Who is the Breakfast Club for?
The school offers the Breakfast Club service to any full time pupil at the school. We cannot offer the
service to any child or sibling who attends any other school.
2. Who will be looking after my child?
The school employs a Breakfast Club Co-ordinator to manage the day to day activities of the club and
our Extended Services Manager manages the admission process. We have a team of play workers to
provide a varied programme of activities.
All staff receive on-going training in various aspects of child supervision and care, including
behaviour management, child protection and activity delivery. All staff are cleared with the Criminal
Records Bureau.
3. What are the opening times?
Breakfast Club opens at 8am. Please do not bring your child in before that time.
Your child should be brought to the main reception door when you arrive at the school. You will find
a Breakfast Club buzzer on the left hand side of the wall by the entrance to notify the staff that you
are waiting to be let in.
End of the Breakfast Club - If your child is in Infants (Reception, Year 1 or Year 2), our staff will take
them to their class directly ready for the start of the school day. If your child is in Juniors (Year 3,
Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6), your child will be told to make their own way from the school hall to their
classroom ready for registration at the start of the school day.
4. What food is available?
We offer a breakfast of wholemeal toast with jam, honey or marmite (and use Vitalite in case of any
diary/soya intolerance). There is also crumpets and cereal (normally Weetabix, Cornflakes, Rice
Crispies, Cocopops & Cheerios). A selection of fruit juice is offered to drink, which includes apple,
orange, citrus fruit, 5Alive and pineapple, as well as cold water.
5. What activities are offered at the club?
We offer a variety of activities at the Breakfast Club. These include creative play (painting, den
making, modelling, musical instruments, drawing, colouring and many more), small world figures to
play with, role play (e.g. dressing up, kitchen and café, hairdressing sets), construction (Lego,
Mechano, Mega Blocks, Stickle Bricks), quiet activities such as board games, books, cards and
puzzles), physical activities (cricket, pool, table tennis, balls, twister, air hockey) and group games
(skipping, parachute games, I Spy, Simon Say’s).
6. How do I book regular sessions?
You need to complete an Application Form for each child you intend to attend the club and sign our
Terms & Conditions document. Both documents are available from the school website
(www.westdeneprimary.co.uk - look under the “Parents” section) or from the school office. There is
a section at the back of the Application Form for you to select the days you would like your child to
attend. Please indicate the date from which you would like the sessions to start. We do require at
least 1 weeks notice from the time a completed application form is received to when a child can
attend.
Due to the size of our school and popularity of the club, we do have a limit to the number of children
that we are able to admit. The school office may therefore from time to time operate a waiting list.
7. My child is going to be absent, what should I do?
Please inform the school office by phone on 01273 294 900 as soon as you can.
Our fees remain due if your child is absent from Breakfast Club for any reason including (but not
limited to) absences due to your child attending a school trip (including our residential trips), if they
have had a holiday authorised by the school (other than a school holiday) or if they are ill.
8. How do I cancel sessions?
Individual sessions cannot be cancelled on a temporary basis. If you are cancelling a regular session
on a permanent basis, the school requires at least 2 weeks written notice (letter or email). This is
providing that you retain at least one regular session per week. If you are cancelling ALL sessions
and leaving the club, we require 4 weeks written notice. All cancellation notices should be by email
or letter to the school office or to bursar@westdene.brighton-hove.sch.uk.
9. How can I change my regular sessions?
Individual sessions cannot be swapped to another day on a temporary basis. If you are changing or
swapping a session on a permanent basis, the school requires at least 2 weeks written notice. All
change requests should be by email or letter to the school office or to bursar@westdene.brightonhove.sch.uk.
10. How can I book ad hoc sessions?
Firstly, you must ensure that the school has a completed Application Form and signed Terms &
Conditions document in advance of any requested session. Ad hoc places will not be given to any
pupil without these important forms.
Secondly, you must give the school office at least 2 days (48 hours) notice before the session is
required. This enables us to ensure that the Breakfast Club Co-ordinator has the correct medical
details (as per the Application Form) and that there are spaces available (we cannot guarantee
spaces and we do have a limit to the number of children we can admit).
Please do not arrange any ad hoc session directly with the Breakfast Club staff – all registers are
managed by the school office.
Ad hoc session may not be granted if there is an outstanding and overdue fee due. Any additional
session should be paid for in advance of the session being attended.
No more than 5 Ad Hoc sessions will be agreed in any one month.
Please note that we do not offer refunds for any ad hoc booking that is subsequently cancelled.
11. Can I just send my child in without notice?
No. Our Breakfast Club need to check that they have full documentation relating to each child that
they accept – they do not necessarily have access to the records held at the school office. They also
need to ensure that they have enough staff to support the staff to child ratio and this is not possible
without 2 days notice.
12. What are the fees?
Breakfast Club costs £3.50 per session.
The school does not offer discounts or any other reduction in the fee if you are late to drop off your
child at Breakfast Club. The fee is a fixed fee regardless of drop off time. We do not offer any
discounts or reductions for siblings or any other pupil.
13. Who and When do I pay?
Fees should be paid in advance of sessions attended. Our Extended Services Manager will normally
send an email out to all parents in the last week of the current month. This email will state how
much is due. The email will also state the date by which payments are due. We do ask for prompt
payment – both our After School Club and Breakfast Club are very well attended and therefore we
have a high volume of parents to contact. By paying promptly you are saving the school valuable
time and resources, and allowing us to efficiently manage the club’s finances.
If you have not received an email notification by the beginning of the following month, please
contact our Extended Services Manager as there may be an issue with the email communication.
Please also keep an eye out in the Friday Update for any important announcements.
14. I don’t understand how my charge has been calculated?
If you have a query with the amount owing, please contact our Extended Services Manager either by
email or by phone. We are able to print out a statement of your account showing sessions booked
to date and amounts that have been paid. This statement should be checked against your own
records and, if there are any errors or omissions, we encourage you to discuss this with the school at
your earliest opportunity.
15. Which methods of payment do you accept?
We accept cheques and childcare vouchers. Please make cheques payable to “Westdene School”
and ensure that you write your child’s name on the back of each cheque sent.
Please send in separate payments for Breakfast Club and After School Club as we use different
accounts for processing the payments. We are still able to process one payment for siblings in each
club (e.g. if you have two children in After School Club you can send in one cheque. If you have two
children in BOTH clubs, please send in one cheque for ASC and one cheque for BC). This is a purely a
banking issue between the separate clubs.
Cash will be accepted only in exceptional circumstances - please ensure you retain your receipt for
all cash payments as this is your proof of payment to the school. Unfortunately a payment will not
be deemed as received without a valid receipt from our school system.
16. How do Childcare Vouchers work?
Childcare Vouchers allow employers to help their employees with the cost of childcare. Childcare
Vouchers are exempt from National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and Income Tax for employees
up to a certain value. All employers are able to run a childcare voucher scheme and employers do
make considerable savings too.
The school can accept all types of childcare voucher as full or part payment towards your session
fees. Speak to your employer to find out which childcare voucher company they are registered with.
Most childcare voucher companies provide access through their websites to an online account for
parents, and we recommend this as the easiest way to make your voucher payments to us.
17. I am struggling to pay – what should I do?
If you are experiencing any issues with payment, please do contact our School Bursar or the
Headteacher as soon as possible who will endeavour to help. If you are late in paying an invoice you
will receive both email and letter reminders. It therefore helps the school enormously to know in
advance if there are any issues.
18. What should I do if I am not happy about something?
If you are not happy about something, or have any comments at all about the club, please speak to
the Breakfast Club Co-ordinator in the first instance. They will endeavour to help you. If you feel
that the Breakfast Club Co-ordinator has not dealt with you to your satisfaction, please feel free to
get in touch with our Extended Services Manager or to our Headteacher.