Getting the people right!
Having chosen your business structure and where you will be located, the next thing to think about is who will run the out of school club. Will you manage the club and supervise the day-to-day care of the children yourself, or will you separate the roles? How many staff will you need, what qualifications should they have and how will you deploy them? What about safe recruitment! There's a lot to consider.
Ofsted will carry out suitable person checks on the registered person before approving them; these include enhanced DBS checks, health checks (if applicable) and reference checks and all need to be completed before Ofsted will register your provision. The registered person is then responsible for checking the suitability of the manager (if this is a different person) and all other staff, as well as anyone else living or working on the premises. If you are not operating provision that would be required to register with Ofsted, you should follow the guidance in the Department for Education's Code of Practice.
For more information about Ofsted suitable person checks see:
Early Years and Childcare Registration Handbook
Staff qualifications
If your out of school club only takes children of reception age or above and is on either the Early Years Register or the Compulsory Childcare Register, you are no longer required by Ofsted to have staff with specific childcare or playwork qualifications. However you should bear in mind that you still need to be able to demonstrate to the inspector that your staff have the necessary training and experience to fulfil their roles.
See our Essential qualifications article for more information >
Safe recruitment
Your staff need to be in place before your club can be up and running, so don't leave recruitment to the last minute: without staff you have no club, and therefore no customers and no business.
When recruiting staff you must follow safe recruitment practices as set out in childcare regulations. In most cases you will need to have completed your safe recruitment checks before an employyee starts in their role with you.
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Staff Ratios
Next you need to consider your other staffing requirements. These will be dictated by the requirements of the registers you are registered on with Ofsted, the number of children you are planning to care for, their ages, their maturity, the space available, the layout of your premises, and the type of activities that you intend to offer.
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Template packs to save you time
To make things easier for you, we have put together a selection of employment-related documents in our Employment Pack. This pack includes a safe recruitment checklist as well as templates for adverts, job descriptions and application forms. The pack also contains template documentation for managing your staff, such as time sheets and appraisal forms.
You might also find our Staff Induction Pack useful. It contains templates for all the documents that you need to ensure that new members of staff are properly trained in all the practices, policies and procedures of your club and also includes a staff handbook.
Buy the Employment Pack >
Buy the Staff Induction pack >
When your premises, staffing and business structure are in place and you are waiting for Ofsted to process your registration, there are still a few other things that you need to consider. Next step: Equipment >