St Helen's Holiday Club - Alveston, Bristol
Summer Holiday Club at St Helen's is available to BOOK NOW (after login!) with new extended opening hours until 6pm!
We have been providing high-quality after school care at St Helen's since Easter 2009 and Holiday Clubs since summer 2012.
ST HELEN'S HOLIDAY CLUB
New opening hours from Summer 2025! 8am-6pm each day!
Running during all holidays (excluding bank holidays) from February - October
The Club Classroom, St Helen's Primary School, Alveston BS35 2QX
HOLIDAY CLUB HOURS MOBILE: 07935 055351
Ofsted inspection 2024:
The inspection report highlights so many positive aspects of the club:
The 'Children very much enjoy their time at this well-organised and welcoming club. They receive caring attentive support from staff, who know children's needs and interests very well. . Josie, Jen and the team 'provide the best experiences they can for children at the club. They work hard to evaluate all aspects, gaining the views of staff, parents and the children.'
The team 'ensure children's physical and mental well-being remains high while at the club'
‘Children are busy, well engaged and enjoy the creative opportunities as the club.’
‘Outside, children relish the large open spaces. They play imaginatively with their friends and have fun using the equipment. Staff thoughtfully join children in their exploration, offering encouragement and praise as children take on challenges and practise new skills.’
‘The manager and supervisors provide the best experiences they can for children at the club. They work hard to evaluate all aspects, gaining the views of staff, parents and the children.’
For me, the phrases which sum up our ethos at OOSC are:
‘Positive and effective relationships and partnerships are at the heart of the provision’
‘Everyone is included, and all exude great happiness, emotional well-being, independence and self-confidence’.
Many thanks to the parents who were interviewed on the day and the amazing feedback we received.
Thank you to Josie, Jen and the club team for all their hard work devising exciting activities for the children throughout the year and on the day of the inspection. For Jen and Mandy who came to support the team and were interviewed about the amazing After School Club and holiday club they lead: Josie, Toby, Jane, Sophie, Sophie, Jess, Libby, plus the holiday club team: Marina, Renata, Will, Viktoriia, Holli, Saleha, Renata and Linda who all make the holiday club and after school club such a great place to be!
Please note the number quoted on the report of 141 relates to all children registered with the after school and holiday club and the inspection is completed on children in the 4-11 age range. The number of places available relates to 25 holiday club places we have available, whereas after school club accommodates 30 children.
Cath Purchase
OOSC Owner and Manager
Ofsted (2018) commented:
'Children enjoy an impressive range of resources indoors and outdoors. These include a woodland area, school playing fields and an all-weather sports pitch. Opportunities to develop physical, creative and problem-solving skills are excellent.'
'Staff get to know, understand and listen to children extremely well. They demonstrate great respect for children's thoughts, ideas and choices. Children of all backgrounds thrive through their genuine kindness, care and attention.'
'The skilful staff thoroughly enjoy devising new and challenging activities, which are highly motivating and beneficial for children.'
'Positive and effective relationships and partnerships are at the heart of the provision. Parents say they always receive key messages from school and staff keep them very well informed about club activities.'
Ofsted (2015) commented:
‘Staff are skilled and knowledgeable about the children’ who have ‘stimulating experiences’ and ‘encourage their independence and social interactions’
The children ‘behave exceptionally well’ and are ‘fully involved in preparing club rules’
Staff ‘encourage children’s risk taking’ and ‘encourage children to make independent choices about their play’.
There is ‘an abundant range of stimulating toys’ and ‘children benefit greatly from a well-equipped outdoor environment’
‘staff encourage children’s understanding of safe practices exceptionally well’
Children ‘have a good sense of belonging’
The children ‘comment positively on how they like meeting new people and the friendliness of the staff’
The holiday club has use of all the school's outdoor facilities and is run by our team of qualified and experienced OOSC staff.
The cost for after school club sessions can be found below.
We accept Childcare Vouchers. The cost includes all activities, insurance and regular drinks and snacks. We will be outside as much as possible!
Children must bring their own packed lunch with NO NUT PRODUCTS but we provide regular drinks, snacks and breakfast before 9am.
We require the Child Registration form to be completed for each child attending the Holiday Club. They are available under 'My Bookings' to logged-in customers.
HOLIDAY CLUB HOURS MOBILE: 07935 055351
Holiday club Supervisors and Playworkers : Jen, Josie, Cath, Toby, Jackie, Viktoriia, Yana, Will, Marina, Renata and Linda
Fees
Fees from Summer 2025 onwards :
We offer a full day to our registered users:-
8am-6pm at £33.50 including
- flexible drop-off and collection,
- all activities and insurance
- a breakfast of cereal, toast and fruit juice (available before 9am)
- an evening snack of toast and fruit
ALSO Including lunch for £36
If paying by Government tax-free or company childcare vouchers we require payment by the session date. Please remember Childcare voucher companies take up to 5 days to process payments.
We accept payment by credit/debit card, PayPal or employee childcare voucher transfer provided you have registered with us to accept them.
Fees for bookings cancelled within a week of the session date are non-refundable. NO BOOKINGS MAY BE ACCEPTED ONCE WE REACH OUR DAILY MAXIMUM NUMBER of 32
Welcome Letter
Dear St Helen’s Holiday Club Parents and Carers,
Thank you for your holiday club booking (or interest in booking!). For those of you who have previously attended the club, you will know some of this information already but please take time to remind yourself of the requirements of the club. Our emphasis is on children having FUN in a safe, secure environment!
LOCATION / ACCESS
The holiday club is in a stand-alone building alongside St Helen’s school in Alveston, and we are lucky to have use of our own club room plus the school's outdoor areas, all-weather pitch and woodland area. St Helen’s school is situated just off the A38 in Alveston, next to the church - postcode BS35 2QX. Access to the holiday club is via the lower playground. The club room is situated to the rear of the school, through the main playground and past the outdoor covered area. This holiday club, parents will access the holiday club through a combination padlock, with the code as emailed separately. Please ensure that once you have passed through the gate, that the gate is relocked and the code isn’t left displaying on the padlock. Please click here to be taken to google maps, which provides an accurate location for travel.
We are aware that there are some roadworks on the A38 outside St Helen’s Primary school, the school is still accessible through Greenhill road directly from the A38 and through Davids Lane. If you are travelling the A38 from the South, you will enter via Greenhill Road, once you have dropped off your children, you follow the road up and turn onto Davids Lane, this will bring you out to the A38 where you will be able to turn left or right. If you are travelling from the North on the A38, you will need to enter and exit from Davids Lane.
Drop-off and collection times are flexible: drop-off is from 8am with collection before 6pm from July onwards.
WHAT TO BRING
Children may need to bring an extra pair of old outdoor shoes or wellies if the area is likely to be wet and muddy. A change of clothes is always useful too plus named water bottle, labelled suncream and a sun hat is also required. Children will need to be able to apply their own suncream. Please send children in casual clothes and shoes that you do not mind them playing in (no flip-flops please) - that's why they are with us! If you have not booked a lunch with us, we request children bring their own lunch please, this will need to have no nut products. The children will have the option of breakfast (until 9am) and regular snacks and drinks throughout the day (see below) so please do not send them in with sweets or chewing gum as it leads to competitive behaviour and we will have to ask children to hand in their snacks to a member of staff for the child to take home at the end of the day.
Children should NOT bring computer games, tablets or mobile phones - we have all your contact details and if you need to contact us for any reason please ring the holiday club mobile number below. Spare clothes/ muddy boots may be left at the club if required. Children may bring their own scooters, with own helmets.
FOOD
There will be breakfast provided between 8am and 9am consisting of cereal, toast and fruit. There will be a snack mid-morning of fruit and drinks, and the children will eat their cold picnic lunch either in the club room or in the undercover picnic area 12-1pm, weather dependant. We will provide a light snack in the afternoon of toast, breadsticks, wraps, bagels and fruit and drinking water will be available all day. We will have all your child's medication information on site, but please let us know if they have any food allergies or intolerances on the online Registration form. This is available for completion, following login here.
ACTIVITIES
We spend much time outdoors at the holiday club. We appreciate that children need 'down time' in the holidays and we will provide opportunities for them to relax as well as play. There will some structured activities on offer such as cooking or craft, as well as outdoor activities available such as Didi cars, roller skates, cricket, football and more!
We are committed to providing an environment where children take ‘managed risks’ and learn new experiences. We encourage children to carry out these activities under close supervision.
Please note:
- All activities will be closely supervised by experienced club Playleaders with a high ratio of children to adults.
- All areas will be risk-assessed daily before children use them.
- Children may not use their own bikes or skateboards, but may bring own scooters with helmets
- A first aider will always be present with the club phone, contact details and a first aid kit.
STAFF
The staff you will meet at the club are experienced OOSC staff members from our clubs at St Helen's, St Mary's, Frenchay, Charlton Wood and Thornbury: Josie, Renata R, Viktoriia, Holli and Caroline will be leading our Summer 2025 sessions with Pippa, Will, Candace, Jackie, Laura, Sophie E, Libby, Miles, Sophie M, Renata H, Jess and Abby supporting them. All our staff are qualified Paediatric first aiders.
FEES / BOOKINGS
If you wish to make additional bookings, you can do this via your online account at www.oosc.co.uk
Bookings may usually be made in this way up to 36 hours before the session. However if the session is full, the booking will be unavailable. If you are having any difficulty with booking online, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please be aware we cannot accept children at the holiday club without payment in advance. Please do not put the staff in a difficult position of having to turn children away.
Due to the necessity to maintain staff ratios and the difficulty filling session places at the last-minute, fees for bookings cancelled within one week of the session date are non-refundable.
Please remember collection is before 6pm from July 25 onwards. Any collection after 6pm is fined at £3 per child, increasing by £3 every 5 minutes.
PHONE CONTACT:
Please contact 07935 055351 during club hours or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any further queries.
If we have not received this already, please complete our online Registration form. If your children are new to the club it would be lovely if you could complete an ‘All About Me’ sheet with them so we can develop their interests at the club.
Kind regards
Cath, Jen, Josie, Renata and the OOSC Staff team
PS Don’t forget...We take Childcare Vouchers including Government tax-free vouchers