In a UK first, the Children’s Activities Association is set up by industry experts to fill the gap parents can’t believe exists! Activities, classes and clubs are a valued and much-loved part of most children’s pre-school and extracurricular leisure and learning time, but until now, there has been no formal guidelines to assist parents in choosing how to invest their time and money in popular pastimes such as swimming, singing, signing and gym to name just a few! But now, the UK’s parents and carers have a new bench-mark to assist them when choosing the best classes and clubs for their children - thanks to the newly formed community interest company, the Children’s Activity Association (CAA) who announces the launch of a Code of Practice offering parents peace of mind for the first time! Some of the UK’s best known names in the kids’ activities sector have come together including Water Babies, Baby Sensory, diddi dance and Tumble Tots. The CAA also has the backing and support of Dr Amanda Gummer, a well-known industry figure and research psychologist specialising in play and development, Morton Michel and the lovely Sid as seen on CBeebies! But why do we need the Children’s Activities Association? A recent survey revealed that four out of five parents and carers of young children agreed it would be helpful if a Code of Practice was in place to support them make choices and decisions about their classes and activities. The survey also found that nearly 1 in 4 had attended a class or activity that did not meet their expectations – and that two thirds of these said the experience had either put them off future activities or made them more likely to seek greater reassurance about classes in future. Parents were keen to rate things that were important when looking into activities with ‘Clean and Safe Premises’ and ‘Safe and Age Appropriate Activities’ scoring most highly by over three quarters of respondents - ahead of being local to home and affordable and competitively priced. One of the most shocking findings however was the number of parents who had assumed (incorrectly) that such a Code of Practice already existed - so did not realise that adequate child safeguarding, Health and Safety and insurance may not have been in place at the activity of their choice.
My child was "lost" by activity organisers on the way from a session to the parent pick up point (he was 5 years old and taking part in a holiday football club at leisure centre with some other friends). The Supervisor hadn't even noticed that my child was missing until I pointed it out. It took an hour to find him, luckily he was safe, although very upset. Anonymous respondent