Daycare Centre Out of School Care

[Kev12345]

I've been running a successful centre in the greater vancouver area for almost 5 years now (0-5 years olds). I don't currently offer "out of school care" because I've always assumed maintaining reliable staff would be an issue. I am constantly asked by families moving up to kindergarten to consider offering the service. I'd like to be a full service child care centre (ages 0-12) but am hesitant to take the plunge.

I'd like to ask current providers of "out of school care", what are some challenges I may face and if it's really worth the initial investment and headaches. I've heard the toughest part is staff turnover due to the nature of the job (seen as temporary, split shifts, etc) Here are some pros and cons I've put together.

Pros:
- more profit $$$
- providing a much needed service to my community
- vans with my company logo at elementary schools act as an advertisement tool for the centre
- parents are more likely to choose a daycare they can stay with long term

Cons:
- large startup costs (vans, child seats, room furnishings)
- staff turnover
- vehicle maintenance costs $$$
- liability
- class 4 drivers license for vans larger than 10 passengers

[torontokids]

Here, we call it before and after care. I think you have a good list of pro's and con's. It is definitely more profitable for a centre to offer this then a home daycare as your ratios are much large.

A couple of thoughts. I wouldn't invest in vans, only do it for schools you can walk to and pick up the kids. The liability is huge as well as the expense. You could also inquire about offering this program at a school where they don't have it but it would be your program running it in their building for their students and you pay a fee to use the space. If you use can do this in a school close to your centre you could split the staffing so that the school aged staff come back to the centre to cover breaks, lunch etc and possibly have one less position at your centre (if that makes sense).

[daycaremom9]

I've been running a successful centre in the greater vancouver area for almost 5 years now (0-5 years olds). I don't currently offer "out of school care" because I've always assumed maintaining reliable staff would be an issue. I am constantly asked by families moving up to kindergarten to consider offering the service. I'd like to be a full service child care centre (ages 0-12) but am hesitant to take the plunge.

I'd like to ask current providers of "out of school care", what are some challenges I may face and if it's really worth the initial investment and headaches. I've heard the toughest part is staff turnover due to the nature of the job (seen as temporary, split shifts, etc) Here are some pros and cons I've put together.

Pros:
- more profit $$$
- providing a much needed service to my community
- vans with my company logo at elementary schools act as an advertisement tool for the centre
- parents are more likely to choose a daycare they can stay with long term

Cons:
- large startup costs (vans, child seats, room furnishings)
- staff turnover
- vehicle maintenance costs $$$
- liability
- class 4 drivers license for vans larger than 10 passengers


Hi there. I am a provider in the Fraser Valley. I provided out of school care for a few years but I am a family daycare so it would be a totally different scenario. I found it to be pretty hard combining the ages but you would have to have them separated so that wouldn't be an issue. I found the older children much harder to deal with as in they didn't listen well. You would need to invest in more/different outside equipment in addition to a whole different set of toys. The last straw for me was when I had my I.D. and MasterCard stolen.

If you don't mind me asking what part of Vancouver you are located in?

[Artsand crafts]

I would look into the demand and see how much families are willing to pay for that service. Starting from there you can analyze how profitable that service is and even the possibility of offering a higher rate per hour to your part time employees to avoid high turnover, if that is possible.