Good Practice: Behind the inspection rating - After-school club cleans up

If you're paying a visit to the after-school club at London's St Joan of Arc Extended School you better have washed your hands properly first or the pupils will be onto you.

The children at the club caught the hand-washing bug after one of its workers attended a food hygiene course.

"We provide the children with a snack each day so our staff have to be food safety trained for when they are preparing snacks," says Savanah Popal, the club's manager.

"So we sent a member of staff on a food hygiene course and on that she did this task where they wash their hands, put their hands into this lotion and then use these blue LED lights to check where the germs still are."

Inspired, the staff member borrowed the lotion and bought some LED lights so they could be used to teach children about keeping their hands clean.

"The children were really interested and the exercise went on for over a week," says Popal. "After we showed the children how to do it, they kept coming to the office and saying 'Miss, can we have the lotion, so-and-so hasn't tried it yet'."

As a way of teaching children about hand washing it proved an instant hit. It may have ended up with children checking for germs on the chairs and tables, but the hygiene message has stuck.

"Now when you tell them to go and wash their hands there is a great amount of care taken. I even get told by them when the soap is running low, which has never happened in all my 12 years of working with children."

It is creative approaches like this that have helped the club win its outstanding rating from Ofsted and Popal's inclusive approach to management helps to foster this.

"There's no hierarchy in terms of 'you're a play worker so you can't have input into anything else'," she says. "They take ownership so if a member of staff notices a child is unhappy they not only let the manager or key worker know, they see it right the way through and make sure it is resolved. It's about giving staff the support and confidence to do that."

The club also encourages the input of the children, who make the most of its suggestion box to lobby for the activities they want.

These suggestions have led to some of the club's most popular and enduring offerings: karate and guitar lessons. "All the clubs are ones the children told us they would like. Karate came at their request and has stayed for five years now. The same with guitar lessons, which started seven years ago."

These sessions are run by specialist tutors who are paid for by a mix of fundraising by the club and contributions of £1 to £2 per session from parents. And there are always new activities coming on board. The latest are fencing and tennis sessions which will start this summer.

There are plenty of everyday play activities too and these are evaluated every term to make sure they add to children's learning and development as well as their enjoyment of the club.

"For example, if we need to develop a child's fine motor skills it might be through doing things like jewellery making, playing with finer Lego or sowing," says Popal. "Doing the evaluations helps staff understand that we're doing activities specific to children's learning and development."

Helpful Hints

- Do lots of training. Ofsted praised the club's high rate of staff retention, and manager Savanah Popal says training is a big part of that. "On average staff stay with us for five years and we've only been going for seven. It's to do with good professional development and giving ownership to individuals. They are all very much part of the planning process and we develop our staff. It makes staff feel very much valued."

- Make Fridays golden. The club relaxes its healthy eating rules each Friday to reward children for good behaviour. "Friday is treat day so we have movie nights with popcorn and it's the only day they can use the Wii," says Popal. "It's about the children chilling out with their friends and they dictate what they want to do because it's their golden time."

- Be close knit. Happy staff make for an outstanding service says Popal: "Children will rake in the benefits of a great atmosphere among the staff. The last thing you want is tension within the team because then they won't be 100 per cent in what they deliver and children have to get 100 per cent."

Fact File

- Name: St Joan of Arc Extended School

- Location: Highbury, London

- Description: The after-school club at St Joan of Arc Extended School opened in 2007 and is run by the Highbury Roundhouse Association, a youth and community group that started in 1974. The club operates on the premises of the primary school and has access to its facilities, which include an outdoor area and two school halls. The club is open weekdays from 3.25pm to 6pm during term time.

- Number of children: 286 children aged four to 11 on roll and 44 places.

- Ofsted inspection reference number: EY360189.