Running an out of school club

Could you run a club? - Getting started - Legal & money issues - Daily management - Case studies - OSN Toolkit

These pages contain tips and guidance to help you set up and run a successful Out of School Club. Find out how to draw up a business plan, what the Ofsted requirements are and what the daily management issues are. You will also find many tools to help you such as our cashflow forecast and survey of demand. If you are looking for a particular policy or planning tool you can go straight to our full list of resources from the Out of School Network Toolkit.

The idea for setting up an out of school club usually comes from local parents who want to use it but setting up a club from scratch can seem daunting. Sheffield Out of School Network (OSN) helps local communities to create their own successful clubs by offering support, advice and resources.

Once you've got the initial enthusiasm for a club, you'll need to get together with other parents and the local schools to set up a planning team. You'll also need to check that there's enough demand to support the club, to identify suitable premises and find out how to get some initial funding to get things moving.

Setting up an out of school club means making lots of decisions about how many children you need, what age group you'll cover, which schools you will include, who will manage the club, and what training they need to do a good job. You'll also need to be aware of your responsibilities as an out of school service provider, such as health and safety, employment and police checks for staff.

Once you've sorted everything out, you need to recruit staff and plan your activities. Then all you need to do is open your club and keep it open!

Sheffield Out of School Network has helped lots of Sheffield clubs to get off the ground and keep running successfully and we can help you, too. We welcome enquiries from anyone wanting to start a new club, or expand an existing one, so if you think your area could benefit from an out of school club, let us know!