At Hopscotch Holiday Club, we extend our expert care beyond the early years to support children aged 4 to 11 in our holiday clubs. With over 35 years of experience, we ensure the health, safety, and well-being children through the following measures:
We follow best practice guidance by maintaining appropriate staff-to-child ratios. For children under the age of five, staffing ratios will be maintained in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, with a maximum ratio of . For children aged five and over, staffing ratios will ensure effective supervision and care, with at any time.
All children will be made aware of who they can go to for help or support during their time at the holiday club. Children under the age of five will be allocated a dedicated key person to provide consistent care and support. Parents and carers will be informed of their child’s key person either prior to the holiday club starting or on the morning of their child’s first session.
Our staff team includes qualified playworkers, teaching assistants, and early years practitioners, trained in child development, safeguarding, and paediatric first aid. Team members are carefully selected for their ability to engage and inspire older children.
Activities are planned around children's interests, with a focus on fun, creativity, independence, and friendship-building. We create spaces that promote free play, quiet time, physical activity, and group games.
Children have opportunities to interact with peers across age groups, fostering mentoring, cooperation, and inclusion—while also ensuring younger children are supported appropriately.
We carry out daily safety checks on our environment and equipment—including sports gear, art supplies, and outdoor play areas—to ensure all activities are safe and suitable for school-aged children.
We use clear signage, child-safe furniture, and other physical safeguards to prevent accidents. Staff maintain vigilant supervision during all sessions, indoors and outdoors.
With special attention to high-touch surfaces and shared materials. We promote good hygiene habits among children, including regular handwashing.
Activities are guided by the children's ideas, needs, and stages of development, in line with the principles of the EYFS and KS1/KS2 developmental milestones. We encourage curiosity, teamwork, and personal growth in a safe, nurturing environment
At Hopscotch Holiday Club, we recognise the importance of healthy eating in supporting children’s growth, energy levels and concentration.
We promote healthy choices through:
- Encouraging balanced packed lunches
- Food-focused discussions and activities
We also share guidance with parents on healthy packed lunch options to support consistent healthy habits at home and at the club.
Snack and mealtimes are important parts of the day, but they also require careful supervision due to potential risks such as choking or allergic reactions.
Staff are trained to follow clear procedures to keep children safe at all times.
Choking Prevention:
- Staff will check all food before it is served, including packed lunches.
- Any food considered a choking hazard will be adapted, removed or replaced.
- Children will remain seated while eating.
- A calm, designated eating area will be used wherever possible.
Supervision During Meal Times:
- Staff will actively supervise children while they eat.
- Staff must not carry out other distracting tasks during this time.
- If a supervising staff member needs to leave, they must ensure another staff member takes over before moving away.
- A staff member with Paediatric First Aid (PFA) training will always be on site during snack and mealtimes.
- Staff remain visually attentive, as choking can be silent.
Failure to follow supervision procedures will be treated as a serious matter.
If a choking incident occurs:
- A trained first aider will respond immediately.
- Parents/carers will be informed.
- The incident will be recorded and reviewed.
- Parents may be advised to seek medical attention.
- Ofsted will be notified where required.
Incidents are reviewed by management to identify patterns and reduce future risks.
- Only permanent Hopscotch staff members may serve food to children.
- Staff must be familiar with the children and their dietary needs.
- Bank staff or staff in probation are not permitted to serve food.
- Management will assess staff suitability for food service duties.
We take allergy management extremely seriously.
Hopscotch aims to operate as a nut-free setting.
- No nut products are permitted in packed lunches.
- Staff food must also comply with the nut-free policy.
- Any products containing nuts are not allowed on site.
- All children with known allergies must have an up-to-date Health Care Plan.
- Staff are informed of allergies through daily briefings (“huddles”).
- Staff must confirm they understand allergy information shared.
- Children with severe allergies (e.g. requiring an EpiPen) may use clearly identified plates or lunch spaces as an added safety measure.
- Allergy information is clearly displayed for staff reference.
The Holiday Club Management Team is responsible for ensuring allergy procedures are fully implemented.
We work in partnership with parents to:
- Share guidance on safe food preparation.
- Identify common choking hazards.
- Ensure packed lunches meet safety requirements.
- Keep medical and allergy information up to date.
Added Healthy food and Safer Eating info