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- Free breakfast club rollout for schools
- Wraparound childcare
- Signposting wraparound
- Delivery models
- Contact the School Aged Childcare Team
Free breakfast club rollout for schools
Background
Since April 2025, the Department for Education has funded 750 schools to deliver a free breakfast club as part of the free breakfast club early adopters scheme.
Early adopter schools are funded to deliver a breakfast club which:
- Lasts a minimum of 30 minutes
- Is free and available to all pupils
- Includes food
Schools have the flexibility to deliver the free breakfast club in a way that best meets the needs of their school, pupils and families.
Application process
Free breakfast clubs programme
Free breakfast clubs give children a soft start to the day, helping them feel ready to learn. They also support families by offering free and reliable childcare before the school day begins.
Schools taking part in the programme will receive funding to provide a free breakfast club for all pupils from reception to year 6. The programme is being rolled out nationally, with every state-funded primary school being required to offer a free breakfast club once roll out is complete (no definitive deadline for this rollout is currently available).
Before you apply
You can find out how to set up a free breakfast club, what funding is available, and explore case studies in the guidance and resources pages. You can find templates and practical tools to support you in planning and setting up your free breakfast club in the Breakfast club blueprint: access resources and templates.
If you have any further questions about the free breakfast clubs rollout please email the Herefordshire School Aged Childcare Team at wraparound@herefordshire.gov.uk
Wraparound childcare
Wraparound childcare is childcare provided before and after the normal school day to help parents and carers balance work and family commitments. It is usually aimed at primary school-aged children and runs regularly during term time to suit the demand of working parents.
Typical examples include:
- Breakfast clubs before school from around 7.30pm onwards
- After-school clubs that run until around 6pm
- Care provided on a school site, at a community venue, nursery, or by a registered childminder
For more information see the government's school aged childcare guidance for schools.
Parents will need to pay for wraparound childcare and these charges should be in line with the guidance on charging for school activities. However, parents can apply for support towards childcare costs via tax free childcare and universal credit support by checking eligibility through the Best Start in Life parent hub. All provision must be registered with Ofsted on the appropriate register according to the age of the children, or via a childminder agency.
Signposting wraparound
All schools need to support a parent's right to request childcare. Providers should keep a log of requests made by parents and carers for wraparound care ensuring that they respond appropriately to any requests they receive. The government provides guidance on responding to requests for wraparound childcare.
When handling right to request arrangements, you should be transparent about the process you choose to follow.
You should:
- Make timescales clear
- Speak to Herefordshire Council's School Aged Childcare Team
- Keep parents and providers informed
- Give reasons for approving or rejecting requests
Some schools already work in partnership with an external provider to deliver wraparound care for their families either on or off the school site. If this is how your school delivers out of school care, it is essential that parents and carers are directed to these external providers by you.
Successful signposting includes:
- School website: include a wraparound section on your website with details of providers you work in partnership with
- Share via school social media
- Prospectus: parents often think about wraparound provision when considering a school
- Newsletters
- Advertise on notice boards and reception areas
- Leaflets or websites of external providers
If provision is off site, parents should not have to transport children at the end of a school day to an external provider to access out of school care. There should be a seamless transition from the end of the school day to the external provider. This move to the external provider should include the exchange of important necessary information between school and setting.
Depending on the distance between the school and the premises used to deliver out of school care, external providers may develop a walking bus or use a minibus to transport children.
Through forming new partnership arrangements, schools and settings can work together to facilitate the most appropriate way to transport children to the wraparound provision.
Delivery models
There is no single way to deliver wraparound care, with a range of different delivery models. It is important to consider the practical and beneficial elements which would be best suited to your school:
- School-run provision
- In partnership with other schools
- In partnership with private, voluntary and independent providers (PVI) either on or off the school site
- Childminders
- PVI run provision on or off the school site
Our School Aged Childcare Team are here to help with advice for schools and providers opening or extending current wraparound childcare.
If you are a school or provider, interested in opening or extending wraparound provision, we would be happy to help and discuss your next steps.
For further support email the School Aged Childcare Team at wraparound@herefordshire.gov.uk