What did the young children, their parents and staff like about the after school clubs at St Paul’s?

Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 by Rizwan Janmohamed
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A review of the quality of after school care (3-11) experienced by 3-6 year olds at provision run by St Paul’s Trust

The views of thirteen children were gained by the ‘teddy tour’ using cameras and discussion from the Mosaic Approach (Clarke & Moss, 2003). The views of fifteen parents were gained using individual telephone or e-mail questionnaires. The opinions of members of staff were sought via a focus group, using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis approach.

All three methods focused on the same research questions:

• What activities/aspects are enjoyed and valued by the 3-6 year old children who attend the after school care sessions?
• What activities/aspects are not enjoyed and valued by the 3-6 year old children who attend the after school care sessions?
• What factors upset or spoil the experiences for the 3-6 year old children who attend the after school care sessions?
• What might be changed in order to improve the quality of the after school provision for the children aged 3-6?

What activities/aspects are enjoyed and valued by the 3-6 year old children who attend the after school care sessions?
The children identified different types of play opportunities as important to them, with creative activities, role play, outdoor play, physical play, play with friends and TV as the most frequently stated. This reflects the interests of younger children, and a desire for a breadth of play. Parents identified similar categories of play to the children – outdoor, creative and imaginative – as important for their children. The staff identified outdoor and home corner play as important. All but one parent, and the staff themselves, identified the staff and other children as playing an important part in their child’s enjoyment of the setting.

What activities/aspects are not enjoyed, or upset and spoil the experiences for the 3-6 year old children who attend the after school care sessions?
Many of the children and parents could not identify anything wrong and seemed content with what was offered, showing a high level of parental and child satisfaction.
The children’s responses to things that are not good fell into four main categories: noise, the behaviour of other children, tea time and aspects of the provision where things were broken or dirty. Similarly noise, the behaviour of other children and friendships were also identified by staff and parents. In contrast, continuity of staffing was identified by parents.

What might be changed in order to improve the quality of the after school provision for the children aged 3-6?
Children’s suggestions for improvement were wide and varied, and reflected ideas around wider play opportunities and sufficiency of equipment and play. Similarly parents called for a wider variety of play activities linked to creativity, music and dancing with some asking for more variety in physical play activities, although again many were happy with the service offered. Improved communication with teachers and parents was identified as a potential area of improvement by staff.

Recommendations
1. Wider imaginative play resources and opportunities linked to fantasy play
2. Wider play resources for music and dance opportunities
3. Development of quiet areas in each after school club by staff and children
4. Use of conflict resolution/buddying approaches with the children
5. Re-negotiation of ‘rules’ for behaviour in the clubs involving the children
6. Greater involvement of children in identifying ongoing concerns with the environment
7. Review of tea time experience
8. Consideration of trips locally
9. Wider and more physical play opportunities, particularly linked to climbing and bouncing
10. Consideration of how to develop two way feedback between school, after school club and home
11. Use of Mooney & Blackburn’s (2003) quality indicators alongside Likert scales to evaluate quality of after school provision

A copy of the full report is available on request