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Hopscotch Playgroup Ltd

Hopscotch Playgroup Ltd began in September 2006 and has 24 children's places.  The service is in an urban area of Leicester. It is a Parent Co‑operative meaning that the parents who use the service are also responsible for the management and delivery of the playgroup.

A group of parents with young children were all unhappy with the existing playgroup provision.  Informal discussions led to a core group of parents meeting on a regular basis to develop a clear idea of the type of provision they wanted for their children.  As part of this process the group considered how this playgroup should be run.  Paramount to their thinking was that they all wanted parents with children at the proposed playgroup to have a voice in the running and development of the provision.  The group contacted CaSE-da (formerly the Leicester & County Co‑operative Development Agency) to explore the implications of becoming a co‑operative social enterprise.

When setting up the service a parent of two, with experience of childcare provision, chaired the core group of other interested parents.  A local church offered the use of its church hall at a preferential rate. CaSE-da gave support in developing a business plan, financial planning, marketing, training, employment law advice and support for funding search and applications. CaSE-da also managed to receive funding to provide business support to the group through the Co‑operative Childcare project.

Currently the group has 15 regular users, although they need 20 to cover overheads and so have began comprehensive local advertising campaign.  The service has three part time paid workers and an unpaid full time manager.  The greatest impact of being a co‑operative to date has been the ability of Hopscotch to attract and retain high quality workers and a support network of parents.  The group are also developing their business plan to include, moving to larger and more appropriate premises.

For further information please contact Angela Gibbons 0161 246 2941.