Playwork settings

• Out of school childcare refers to childcare outside of the child’s full time school day and includes care provided before school, after school and during the school holidays for children up to the age of 14. It enables parents/carers to return to work or training and children to enjoy a play focused, quality provision staffed by qualified Playworkers. Examples of this is known as breakfast clubs, lunch clubs, after-school clubs and holiday clubs.

• Open access playwork, can be permanent or temporary provision, located in a variety of settings with or without premises and can include holiday play schemes, youth clubs, and park-based activities. This provision usually caters for a wide age range of children, normally aged five years and over. The purpose is to provide staffed play opportunities for children usually in the absence of their parents.

• Holiday playschemes are set up specifically to provide opportunities for play during the school holidays. They may operate as open access playwork or out of school childcare depending on their chosen delivery model. Where other types of provision exist that do not fall into the current exceptions order, such as junior youth groups or forest school holiday clubs, running for more than two hours, they will be regulated as one of the above.

Providers of any setting that operates for over two hours per day must be registered with Care Inspectorate Wales; unless they are operating under the exceptions order.