KOOSA Kids, leading provider of breakfast, after school and holiday childcare provision, has announced it will be opening its 10th Hampshire-based club in January – and it will be in Alton.

The club will be based at the Alton Buckle Community Building linked to Wootey Infant School and Wootey Junior Junior School, where it will be offering up to 20 breakfast and after-school places and 60 holiday club places.

The newly-signed contract will bring peace of mind to the schools after previous out-of-school childcare provider, 4Children, decided to terminate its contract with Alton Buckle in July, at the end of the summer term.

4Children has, over the past few years, run breakfast and after-school clubs at four centres in and around Alton – at Medstead, Rowledge, Anstey Junior (covering Alton Infant School and St Lawrence) and the Alton Buckle Community Building on the Wootey estate.

It was also responsible for running the summer holiday Tiger Club at Wootey Infant School, which was open to children from across the Alton area.

The decision looked to land parents with a real childcare problem, but this was overcome when Alton Buckle Out of School Partnership joined forces with Hampshire County Council to create Wootey Activity Club.

Wootey Activity Club took over the running of the Tiger Club, providing a range of sporting activities, arts and crafts throughout the school holidays and continuing from September to provide breakfast and after-school provision at the Alton Buckle Community Building.

Viewed as an interim measure, and with the findings of a Government consultation on “wraparound childcare” looming, the appointment of KOOSA Kids will, from January, secure a breakfast club from 8.15am and after-school provision until 6pm on school days, plus Ofsted-registered, high-quality holiday provision for children aged four to 13 between the hours of 8.15am to 6pm on weekdays, open to those living in Alton and the surrounding area.

KOOSA Kids currently runs more than 40 breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs across Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey and London, and prides itself on “inspirational staff” who help children to thrive by offering a “fantastic range of activities”, including go karting, sports, drama and clay modelling, in a relaxing and fun environment, and with the provision of healthy and nutritious snacks.

Commenting on the appointment, Ella Palmer, headteacher of Wootey Infant School, said: “Finding good quality, affordable, wraparound childcare is an ongoing concern for parents. Our priority has been to support this requirement by appointing a reputable provider that will deliver outstanding levels of care and safety.

“We are excited about the relationship with KOOSA and feel confident that both parents and children will really value the provision.”

Phil Wade, KOOSA Kids’ operations director, said: “We are excited to bring this essential service to Wootey and to be able to support Alton and the surrounding schools with our holiday club.

“KOOSA Kids has been delivering high-quality childcare for over 10 years and we look forward to utilising our expertise to ensure the children are well looked after and have a fun-packed time while they are with us.”

Launched on December 7, and led by the Department for Education, the Government consultation into ‘Wraparound and Holiday Childcare – Parents and Childcare Provider ‘Rights to Request’ aims to gather views from interested parties on how schools should respond to requests by parents and childcare providers to use school facilities for such provision, the overall aim being to help parents to work, and/or to work longer, if they choose, by making quality childcare available during the week and school holidays.

The Government is proposing that parents should have the “right to request” that their child’s school should consider establishing wraparound and/or holiday childcare, and that childcare providers should have the right to request the use of school facilities for providing such a service, at times when the school is not using them.

At present, many parents who want wraparound and holiday childcare for school-age children are finding it difficult to find something suitable and affordable.

A Department for Education survey – called Parents’ views and experiences of childcare – has revealed that 62 per cent of parents of children aged five or over, where at least one parent in the household is working or searching for work, required some form of wraparound childcare, most commonly after school. The same survey showed that three-in-10 parents with such a need were unable to find it.

Parents trust schools and the Government wants them to play a larger role in the childcare market.

All maintained, academies and free schools are encouraged to make their facilities available for use by the wider community, and are able to charge for the provision of extended and community services, however, any profits made from these services must be reinvested in the service or in the school.

Details of the consultation can be found online at gov.uk. Any responses to the consultation are due by February 29.

For more details about the KOOSA Kids Wootey School Club and the activities on offer from January, call 0845 094 2322 or visit koosakids.co.uk.