RBF Holiday Clubs

RED BALLOON

SCHOOl HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

RBF provides both OFSTED registered childcare and a wide variety of other activities during school holidays. You can find out all about our approach and the unique way that we deliver school holiday provision on this page.

If you would be interested in RBF providing OFSTED registered or other school holiday activities in your location, please contact office@rbf.org.uk.

ThE RBF APPROACH

RBF cares passionately about ensuring that every child is able to explore and fulfil their potential. As such, in offering school holiday care as part of our OFSTED registered provision and other school holiday activities, we look to create an exciting and engaging environment where children are free to choose activities and resources as they wish as well as enjoying more structured time together. Activities on any given day may include performing arts, craft, board games, construction, messy science, computer games, sports, reading, exciting team challenges, physical play, cookery, inflatables, nerf wars... to name just a few!

Each week is themed according to what is happening in the wider world combined with a core question or thought that is being explored across all of RBF's work, and we regularly ask the children about ideas, topics and activities they would like to explore resulting in a program that varies from Harry Potter to Saving the Oceans and activities from baking and football to making slime and exploding volcanoes!

RBF school holiday provisions also benefit from the fact that they are part of a much wider group of projects for children led by the charity, so we have access to trained, skilled practitioners in a wide variety of fields whose talents can be shared with the children who take part.

TIMINGS & REGISTRATION

Loughton December 2023 (Children age 4 to 11 - School Year R to 6)

RBF will be running a Christmas Holiday Club in Loughton at Hereward Primary School, Colebrook Lane, IG10 2HR (21st and 22nd December 2023).

This club is OFSTED registered.

We will be open daily from 8-6pm. Parents/carers can book their children in for:

Full Day (9-3:30pm) for £30
Extended Day (8-6pm) for £45
Full Week of Extended Days for £200
Free Funded Place (8-6pm) - see details below

All Full Day children will receive lunch as well as a mid morning and afternoon snack. Extended Day children will additionally receive breakfast and dinner.

During each day, children will enjoy a wide variety of activities including art & craft, games, challenges, inflatables, sports, dance, singing, cookery, drama, all intertwined with the theme of the week and the special activities listed above.

When you apply for a place we will send you a confirmation and invoice, usually within three working days, if we have an appropriate space for your child. If you have any questions about the booking process, or have not heard from us within three days of booking, please contact holiday@rbf.org.uk

Places tend to be booked up very quickly, so book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. If your childcare needs change, please let us know as early as possible. Our refund policy is laid out below.

Please note that once your places are confirmed and an invoice issued, they are subject to £10 cancellation/amendment fees. Additional sessions can be added to your booking free of charge.

Please click here to apply for a PAID place at December2023 Loughton

Epping Forest Activate

RBF are working with Active Essex, Essex County Council and the Department for Education to offer our Summer 2023 provision as part of "Essex ActivAte" - a flagship Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) program.

As such, a limited number of families who are usually allocated Free School Meals (means tested rather than just because children are under 7) will be able to access free places daily from 8-6pm using the WONDE code issued by their child's school.

If you do not receive your WONDE code, please contact your child's school. We are not able to issue WONDE codes.

Coming soon...

Epping

FOOD

The food we provide is healthy and includes fresh fruit and vegetables. We like to promote independence by encouraging the children to be involved in preparing their own food and to clear away after themselves and each other.

We follow statutory guidelines on food preparation including training all appropriate staff to at least Level 2 in Food Safety. Fresh drinking water is available at all times (children are encouraged to bring their own water bottles) and we meet individual dietary requirements and parental preferences where it is possible to do so.

We recognise the importance of healthy nutrition for children delivered in a calm, friendly setting.

Snacks are usually fruit/vegetable based.

FOUNDATION

PICKUP/DROPOFF

The RBF trustees have made a limited number of 'Foundation Places' available at our paid for Holiday Clubs allowing us to offer reduced rates in certain circumstances in order that as many families as possible no matter what their financial background are able to access our provision.

If you would like to apply for a Foundation place, please contact office@rbf.org.uk. Please note that Foundation Places do not automatically transfer from term time to holiday time places or from one holiday club to the next so need to be applied for each time your child registers for our holiday clubs. Each application is assessed against the current demand for places, the level of hardship being experienced by the families who have applied and whether an RBF setting is the best place for the children's needs to be met.

All parents/carers will be given a telephone number that connects directly to the on-site team solely for use to let them know if you are running early/late for collection on their child’s first day in the provision.

We understand that sometimes little brothers and sisters take a long time to get out of the house or that every traffic light seems stuck on red, but our staff have their own families that they need to get home to and other children who need their attention. Therefore, if you are more than 5 minutes late to collect your child, there will be a charge of £10. For each subsequent minute, there will be a further charge of £1. Non-payment of late fees may result in your child’s place being withdrawn.

Please be aware, in accordance with our Safeguarding Policy we have to make a report to Social Care with regard to children who are persistently not collected in a timely way from RBF activities that they are attending.

FAITH

RBF is a Christian organisation and our activities are of course open to children and families of all faiths and those with no particular beliefs. There are faith-based elements in most of the sessions that we deliver. For example, there might be a 'Bible Story of the Week' which children can choose to engage with, in our reading corner there may be books containing Bible stories and we will say grace or have a moment to 'pause and think' before our meals. In our entire time operating as a charity we have never had a complaint from a parent/carer about a faith based element in our sessions and we are proud to have had families from every major world faith as well as atheists and humanists take part in our provisions through the years.

We actively encourage children from other faiths or those who hold no particular beliefs to share what is important to them with the rest of the group and would ask that if, for example, a family is about to celebrate a particular festival at home that they let our team know so we can talk to their child about it and encourage them to share it with the rest of the group. If you would like to discuss this aspect of our Holiday Club provision further, please contact holiday@rbf.org.uk.

SIGN US UP!

If you feel like a Red Balloon Holiday Club would be right for your child you can apply for a place...

You will be able to request the places you need and then if we have space available one of team will be in touch to have a chat with you about how we can make the Holiday Club a brilliant experience for your child.

Where you are attending activities where payment is due, you will then receive an invoice for your place by email which must be paid at latest three days before the first day your child is attending either by secure debit/credit card or PayPal otherwise your place will be offered to next family on our waiting list.

Please note that where some activities are exempt from OFSTED registration we will be unable to accept childcare voucher payments for these sessions. Where noted above that activities are OFSTED registered, we are pleased to receive payment by Childcare Voucher or Tax Free Childcare payments.

If you would like to apply for a Foundation Place, please apply in the same way and indicate your Foundation Request on the form.

Booking status for our current Holiday Care provisions is as follows:

Loughton Summer 2023: PAID PLACES OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS

Depending on numbers of children attending each day, the club will always have between three or more RBF staff members in attendance. Our staff hold all of the relevant qualifications/experience to work in an OFSTED registered setting and are part of a wider team who deliver hundreds of hours of children’s work every week. Please note if your child is in Reception they will be allocated a Key Worker who will have responsibility for ensuring your child can access all of the provision fully and who you will be able to contact directly if you so wish to discuss their time with us at Holiday Club.

STAFFING

POLICIES

RBF have a full set of policies and procedures around Safeguarding of Children, Health & Safety, etc., that are all tried and tested as we work with thousands of children every year. We hold full Public Liability Insurance up to £10,000,000. Parents/carers who secure a place at the Club will be given access to our policy pack on request.

ABSENCE

It is essential that if your child is not attending the Club on day they are booked to be with that you phone the RBF office (020 3086 8186) to let us know. No refunds are available for bookings cancelled less than 10 days in advance.