Your communication is important to us

At Creative Kidz Childcare Ltd, your communication is important to us. We value the information, questions and concerns shared by our families and want to make sure that enquiries reach the right person and receive the appropriate attention.

As a small organisation, our Head Office and operational administration are managed by a small senior team of two, alongside responsibility for overseeing the safe and effective operation of our childcare provision.

To help us provide a responsive service while maintaining safe operational oversight, safeguarding responsibilities and a healthy work-life balance for our team, we have clear contact routes, availability hours and response times.

Safeguarding and matters affecting the immediate safety or welfare of a child will always take priority. Routine enquiries are dealt with as promptly as possible during our published working hours.

You are welcome to email us at a time that is convenient for you. However, please do not assume that an out-of-hours communication has been seen or that a requested arrangement has been agreed until you have received confirmation from us.

The information below explains who to contact, when we are available, how quickly you can expect a response, and what to do about absences, current sessions and urgent or time-sensitive matters.

Before you contact us

Please check the information available on our website first. Our guides, policies and FAQs are available at any time and answer many common questions.

Booking and Payment Information — how to sign up and book, booking and payment guides, amendments and cancellations, terms and conditions, discounts and financial assistance.

Key Information and FAQs — our Parent Guide, daily routines, food and drink information, useful forms and answers to common questions.

Find your club — Breakfast Clubs, After School Clubs, Holiday Clubs or Sports and Skills. Select your child’s venue for joining details, club contact information, arrival and collection arrangements and relevant timetables.

News and Updates — recent announcements, newsletters and links to key policies.

Who should I contact?

Using the correct contact route helps us ensure that your enquiry reaches the right person and can be dealt with as efficiently as possible.

Head Office 

Please contact Head Office about invoices, payments, bookings/contracts and other account or administrative queries.

Term time: Tuesday to Thursday, 10am–2pm
During school holidays: Please contact the Operations manager
Closed: Weekends, public holidays and bank holidays

For general enquiries, we aim to respond within 3–4 Head Office working days, or up to 5 Head Office working days during busy periods.

Operations Manager 

Please contact the Operations Manager about club operations and enquiries relating to a current session.

Term time: Monday to Friday, 3pm–6pm
During school holidays: Availability varies according to the Holiday Club timetable and contact is limited to email only.
Closed: Weekends, public holidays and bank holidays

The Operations Manager may be supporting settings, travelling between sites, managing staffing or responding to operational or safeguarding matters and may therefore not always be immediately available.

Routine invoices, payments, contracts and account enquiries should be directed to Head Office.

IMPORTANT — Reporting your child’s absence

If your child will not be attending a booked Creative Kidz session, you must notify the relevant Creative Kidz club directly as soon as reasonably practicable.

Please include:

• your child’s name;
• the date of absence;
• the booked session;
• the reason for absence; and
• the expected return date, where known.

Absences must be reported directly to the Creative Kidz setting your child is due to attend.

Sending an absence notification to Head Office, the Operations Manager, the safeguarding inbox, your child’s school or another member of staff does not replace this requirement.

Please do not rely on the school or another person or organisation to pass your child’s absence to Creative Kidz on your behalf.

If your child is absent from school and will also miss a booked Creative Kidz session, you must notify both the school and Creative Kidz separately.

This is an important safeguarding procedure. Our club staff need accurate information about which children are expected to attend so that children who do not arrive as expected can be appropriately accounted for.

Creative Kidz and your child’s school

Creative Kidz Childcare Ltd is a separate childcare provider from the schools at which many of our services operate.

Although we work closely with our host schools to support safe handovers and the welfare of children, parents/carers remain responsible for ensuring that both Creative Kidz and the school receive the information they each require.

Please do not assume that information provided to your child’s school will automatically be passed to Creative Kidz, or that information provided to Creative Kidz will automatically be passed to the school.

When your child is attending After School Club

Where your child will be attending Creative Kidz After School Club, you must also follow your school’s procedures for notifying the school of your child’s after-school arrangements.

It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure that the school knows when their child is expected to attend Creative Kidz so that the appropriate end-of-school-day handover arrangements can take place.

When your child will not be attending

If your child will not be attending a booked Creative Kidz session, you must notify Creative Kidz directly, even if you have already informed the school.

If your child is absent from school and will therefore also be absent from Creative Kidz, both organisations must be notified separately.

When arrangements change

If your child’s normal attendance, collection or handover arrangements change, you are responsible for notifying each organisation affected by the change directly.

Neither Creative Kidz nor the school should be relied upon to pass routine attendance or childcare arrangements to the other on your behalf.

Informing the school of an absence, change, request, medical need, collection arrangement or other matter does not automatically constitute notification to Creative Kidz.

Equally, notifying Creative Kidz does not replace your responsibility to notify your child’s school where the school needs to know about your child’s attendance or after-school arrangements.

This separation is particularly important for safeguarding and handover arrangements, as both organisations need accurate information about the children for whom they are responsible.

Safeguarding concerns

The welfare of children is our paramount consideration.

Safeguarding concerns and matters affecting the immediate safety or welfare of a child will always be prioritised over routine administrative enquiries. 

If you have a concern regarding the safety or wellbeing of a child, please contact:

Safeguarding email:
safeguarding@creativekidz.org.uk

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Louisa Clothier — 07534 785620

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Kelly Keeling — 07588 662120

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Brian Keeling — 07534 785620

Our safeguarding contacts do not replace the emergency services. If you believe a child is in immediate danger or there is an emergency requiring immediate assistance, please call 999.

Urgent or time-sensitive requests

We understand that unexpected situations can arise. However, if you require us to take action or put arrangements in place for an upcoming childcare session, please contact us with as much notice as reasonably possible.

Please do not rely on an email, voicemail or other communication sent outside our published availability hours to make arrangements for the following morning or an upcoming childcare session.

This is particularly important for requests involving:

• medication or medical arrangements;
• allergies;
• SEND support or reasonable adjustments;
• collection or handover arrangements;
• changes affecting a child’s care;
• liaison with a school or another organisation; or
• any matter requiring approval, documentation, assessment, training or action by our team.

Where a request relates to medication, medical needs, SEND support, reasonable adjustments or another matter affecting a child’s safe attendance or care, parents/carers must provide the required information and give sufficient notice to enable us to assess the child’s needs and put any necessary arrangements in place before attendance.

Our Terms require changes affecting a child’s safe attendance, care or participation to be notified to CKCL without delay and before the child’s next attendance wherever reasonably practicable. 

Notification alone does not mean that an arrangement has been agreed, authorised or can safely be implemented.

Where you are asking Creative Kidz to take responsibility for something or requesting a change to an existing arrangement, the request must be reviewed and confirmed by us before it can be considered agreed.

Sending an email, leaving a voicemail or otherwise notifying us of a request does not constitute our acceptance, authorisation or confirmation of that arrangement.

Where necessary, attendance may need to be delayed or alternative arrangements made until the required information, documentation, medication, assessment, training or other arrangements are in place.

Our Terms also require medication to be supplied correctly, valid written consent to be obtained and administration to be capable of taking place safely. 

Same-day and current-session matters

For matters directly affecting your child’s attendance, arrival, collection or care that day, please contact the Creative Kidz club your child attends using the contact details provided on the relevant club page.

This may include:

• an unexpected delay in collection;
• information staff need to know about the current session;
• an urgent matter affecting a child currently attending; or
• another immediate operational matter.

Please do not rely on Head Office email for information that needs to reach club staff immediately.

Club staff can deal with appropriate day-to-day matters relating to the current session. However, contacting the club does not replace the need to contact Head Office or the Operations Manager where a matter requires senior management approval, documentation, assessment or a change to an existing arrangement.

Remember: absences must always be reported directly to the Creative Kidz club your child was due to attend.

Out-of-hours communication

You are welcome to send an email at a time that is convenient for you. However, our emails and telephone messages are not continuously monitored outside our published working and availability hours.

A communication sent during the evening, at a weekend, on a public or bank holiday, or at another time when the relevant member of our team is not working may not be seen until their next working period.

Please therefore do not rely on an out-of-hours communication where action is required before your child’s next session.

If we have not reviewed and confirmed a requested arrangement, you should not assume that it has been put in place.

Response times and priorities

We review communications during our published working and availability hours and respond to routine enquiries as promptly as reasonably practicable.

Safeguarding concerns and matters affecting the immediate safety or welfare of children will always take priority.

As our Head Office and operational administration are managed by a small senior team of two, there may be occasions when safeguarding, staffing or immediate operational matters require our attention and routine enquiries take longer to respond to.

For general Head Office enquiries, we aim to respond within 3–4 Head Office working days, or up to 5 Head Office working days during busy periods.

Please avoid sending the same enquiry to multiple email addresses, clubs or members of staff in an attempt to obtain a quicker response. Duplicate enquiries can make it more difficult to maintain a clear communication record and may delay our ability to respond efficiently.

We do not monitor or respond to text messages or WhatsApp messages.

Respecting our team’s working hours

We are committed to supporting the wellbeing and work-life balance of our team.

Our staff and senior team are not expected to routinely monitor or respond to work emails, telephone messages or other work communications outside their published or normal working hours.

Maintaining clear working-hour boundaries supports staff wellbeing and safe, sustainable working practices. It also helps ensure that our team are properly rested and able to provide children and families with the safe, attentive and professional service they deserve.

We therefore kindly ask families to respect our published contact and availability hours and to allow sufficient time for enquiries, requests and changes to be reviewed and actioned.

We appreciate that a matter may feel urgent and, where reasonably possible, we will always try to assist. However, a request becoming urgent or being submitted at short notice does not guarantee an immediate response or that new arrangements can be put in place, particularly where it is received outside working hours or requires information, assessment, approval, training or consultation with another person or organisation.

Thank you for helping us maintain clear, safe and effective communication for all children and families using Creative Kidz Childcare Ltd.

Safeguarding Lead – DSL

safeguarding@creativekidz.org.uk

If you ever have a concern regarding the safety or wellbeing of our children, please contact us:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) -Louisa Clothier – 07534785620

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) -Kelly Keeling – 07588662120 

Deputy Designated safeguarding lead (DDSL) – Brian Keeling – 07534785620