FAIR PLAY OUT OF SCHOOL CLUB WAVERLEY ROAD

Fair Play Waverley Road is an independently owned out-of-school club in Crouch End, based at Shirley Boffey House on Waverley Road. Its January 2025 Ofsted inspection found that the provision met requirements and that safeguarding arrangements were effective. The report depicts a club where emotional wellbeing, friendships and a genuine choice between activity and rest matter.

The practical shape is broad for a wraparound provider: breakfast club before school, after-school care in term time, and weekday holiday-club days. That combination could help families who need support at both ends of the school day as well as during holidays.

This is club provision rather than a day nursery. At the January 2025 visit, the children present were aged four to five. Their time balanced self-directed play with planned experiences. Multi-day craft projects were a strong example: children returned to paper lanterns, adding paint and glitter before practising cutting and knot-tying. The extended format gave them a reason to remember, persist and finish.

The Early Years Foundation Stage means eligible younger children develop across connected areas of learning through play, alongside statutory care expectations. Here, club activities built on skills learned at school rather than recreating the classroom. Imaginative games encouraged conversation and friendships, while outdoor sessions included running, jumping, rolling and ball play. Even winter dusk became part of the appeal of going outside.

In January 2025, children appeared secure in the club and related warmly to adults and one another. Adults continually assessed risk while helping children learn to judge it for themselves. This gives the setting a useful balance: safety is actively managed, but children still gain independence.

Support for different needs was woven into club life. Staff were found to be skilled in helping children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children contributed ideas about making the environment inclusive. After a long school day, quieter choices mattered too. Fiction and non-fiction books, cushions and soft toys created spaces where children could read, listen to a favourite story or rest.

Parents consulted during the inspection valued two-way communication and the care taken when children settled in. They also praised the balance between free play and planned activity, an important distinction for children arriving after a structured school day.

The club operates from Shirley Boffey House (Formally Victorian House), 10 Waverley Road, London N8 9QS. At the inspection, the published weekday pattern was breakfast club from 8am to 9am and after-school club from 3.25pm to 6pm during term time. Holiday club ran on weekdays from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

The January 2025 report recorded 24 places and 46 children on roll. Those figures describe the inspection date, not the number attending one session or current vacancies.

Age coverage. Children present at the inspection were aged four to five. Families should establish which ages the breakfast, after-school and holiday arrangements currently accept.

Daily logistics. The three attendance patterns serve different parts of the year and day. Ask how school collection, handover and holiday-club bookings work for your child's school and timetable.

Rest versus activity. The report describes both energetic outdoor play and comfortable quiet spaces. A visit can help families judge how those choices work at the busiest after-school point.

Fair Play Waverley Road is best understood as a place for school-age children to decompress, play and keep developing after the bell, not as an extended classroom. The strongest evidence is the texture of the experience: projects that continue across days, active outdoor play, friendships, and a quiet corner when energy runs low. It should suit families seeking breakfast and after-school wraparound during term time, or full weekday holiday-club days, especially where a child values both social play and the freedom to step back.