Nimble Arts holiday clubs - can you recommend them?

[Bishberro]

Hi, I'm starting to plan a few gaps in my holiday childcare for the rest of the year and was thinking of enrolling my kids (7 and 5) in a holiday club for a few days. Just wondered if anyone had any experiences of Nimble Arts holiday clubs and if they would recommend them? We've never done holiday clubs before so I'm a bit nervous about safety etc and if people think they're worth the cost as it's very ?? for two kids. Thanks!

[lorraineliyanage]

I highly recommend the Nimble Arts holiday clubs. Each day is carefully planned with a different theme so the kids make some really fantastic projects covering arts, dance, music-making, movie-making. theatre and more. The safety aspect is absolutely fine. There is a member of staff on the door to sign every child in and out and the session takes place in the Heber school hall so all the children are in one area. There is a high staff to child ratio. I am sure your children will love it!

[hazelnunhead]

My daughter has been, she loves them. They are well organised, lots of fun, a good ratio of adults. They also open early and have a later pick up so much easier than some clubs that finish at 4. I would recommend them, which reminds me I need to look at the May options!

[nunheadmum]

It's the only holiday club that my kids will willingly go to! Always really good quality activities. A bit expensive but worth the money.

[redjam]

I'd second all the above. My kids love it. One of the ladies who runs it used to be the music teacher at Heber and she is lovely - full of energy and ideas and enthusiasm (and a fab music teacher to boot). I wish it were less expensive but I do think it's more professionally run and fun than other holiday clubs. We tried a local rival art club over Easter and both my kids came home in a black mood begging me to send them back to Nimble Arts next time. So looks like I'll have to keep swallowing the cost, sigh...

[kd20]

More info :

http://adf.ly/UqlO2

[Vick]

Another endorsement for Nimble Arts. My 5 yr old (in reception class) has been going ever since last October and loves it. The days are well structured and well organised, my daughter always comes home with an entourage of art work. Last time she made a puppet theatre and puppets which my two daughters still play will now. Yes, it is a little pricey but not when you compare it to what a childminder may charge for a full day and if you book early you can get a discount, I just signed up for a week over the summer holiday and it worked out around ?38 a day which doesn't seem to bad to me. Even changing location for the summer holidays has not put my daughter off she can't wait/

[Bishberro]

Thanks for all the replies, that's definitely reassured me. It sounds great and well worth the cost.

[lovelyrita]

Thanks for the nice feedback about Nimble on here... A slightly cheeky hijack (admin - do delete if not appropriate in this thread), but we're looking into whether we can extend our hours to 6pm in the future, and wondered whether this would be useful? It's going to take a bit of convincing of our venues and staff, but if there's demand we're going to look into it properly!

[kd27]

More info :

http://adf.ly/1HHwe7

[mrs.lotte]

Yes please to extended hours, we've used nimble arts before (and have already booked in for summer) but the pick up time has been very difficult to achieve

[Vick]

That would be so useful, 5pm pick up is really tricky, I have to work from home those days to make it work and my work don't really like it which means my daughter only does a couple of days at Nimble Arts. Now if you run until 5pm she would be there everyday!

[damzel]

Yes please extend, 5pm is really tight. My daughter loves Nimble Arts, my only concern is that she never eats much of her packed lunch, says there is not enough time. Perhaps she gets distracted by the excitement, she always finishes it at school!

[lovelyrita]

Thanks for this - we're definitely looking into trying to offer extended hours for the summer, and failing that, for October onwards, as we completely understand it's difficult to finish a working day in time for a 5pm pick up!

[lovelyrita]

Just a wee update - we're going to be offering an initially limited number of extended day spaces at our summer holiday clubs until 6pm! Thanks a lot for your feedback on this.

[Jake Archie]

I had a funny experience when my son did nimble arts . I was told I needed to speak to the head of early yrs when I went to pick up my son , who then proceeded to tell me how difficult my son had been at sharing the pritt stick , this non sharing saga went on with my son apparently not apologising for not sharing . She then went on to tell me she had never experienced anything like it and asking me if he was 4 . Yes he is 4 and a half . Honestly what a fuss over a child not sharing some pritt stick . Quite unusual that he wasn't sharing , he is usually v. Good at it . Anyway didn't really enjoy so he won't be going again . But there are lots of positive messages here so I'm sure it suits many children just make sure they share nicely !!

[Jake Archie]

The director of nimble arts has just written me a long e-

Mail clearing this matter up . I feel bad now for writing previous e- mail . It was just a misunderstanding .

[Justasking]

My 4-year old son absolutely loves it! He's come home with a different project every day and already says he wants to go back next summer or even before. Also, they can cater to children with SEND and make a point of being inclusive which is rare.

[Jellybeanz]

My 6 yr old son absolutely loves their holiday club and this does sound an odd story. As Lorraine says there is a different theme every day and they range from under the sea to having a falconry expert in(!). They do games, tons of activities, arts and crafts, everything under the sun basically. Nimble Arts is quite simply wonderful and all I can advise is book early if you want holiday care for 4+ yr olds!

[NimbleArtsLondon]

Thanks for all the feedback here and to all those who brought their children along for anything from half a day to the full four weeks - we loved meeting you, seeing old faces and setting off on daily voyages into your children's imaginations! Our online scrapbook is almost complete but you can see nearly everything here now:

http://www.nimblearts.co.uk/holiday-club-scrapbook/summer-2016-scrapbook/

And thanks to the continued hard work and dedication of our staff we passed our Early Years Ofsted Registration visit which means we'll be one of the few clubs in the area able to offer 8am - 6pm childcare for 4 year olds! We'll be launching our October and Winter clubs in the next few days with as new pricing and discount structure and a whole pile of new adventures. If you haven't already joined our mailing list and you'd like to be kept up to date with news then you can sign up here: http://www.nimblearts.co.uk/contact-us/