It is with a heavy heart that BDCA announces the closure of our After School and Holiday Club. The last day of service will be Friday 21st July.

This does not affect our Go Wild! Summer Scheme, which is a separate project that will continue to provide activities for children 8- 14 years old between 10 am – 3 pm for the first three weeks of the Summer holidays. Application for Go Wild! will be opening soon.

Our After School Club was set up in September 2012 with the vision of being a self-sustaining social enterprise providing affordable childcare for Newham families and helping towards the costs of our other charitable activities.

Unfortunately, the demand for paid after school care has reduced greatly in recent months due to the cost-of-living crisis paired with changes in working conditions since the pandemic. The service has been making a financial loss for some years, but our trustees and senior leadership team saw the social value in the project and remained committed to keeping it open despite the financial deficit. However, with the pressures of rising costs testing our stability as a charity, we simply can no longer afford to keep running the After School Club.

“BDCA thanks all our parents, staff team and trustees for supporting the After School Club over the past decade,” said Stacey, BDCA Director of Children, Youth and Families Provision. “It has been a real joy and privilege for us to see the children grow and learn and to journey with them during some of the most important years of their lives. We appreciate the impact this will have on local families and the children that attend this service. The decision to close is one that has taken time and careful consideration of changes beyond our control.”

Despite the sadness around this difficult decision, BDCA celebrates the fact that our After School Club provided a vital service to our local community and supported over 700 children in the past decade. This amazing impact was made possible by the dedication and determination of our incredible management and staff. Their love, care and hard work invested over the years enabled parents to work and study with the knowledge that their children were safe, fed and having fun.

“We would like to take this as an opportunity to thank Newham Council for awarding us several Covid Business Relief grants since the pandemic, which helped us keep our service going for as long as it has,” said Sarah Laing, Managing Director, BDCA. “Although the closure of our After School Club is sad news for BDCA and many within our community, it is important that we end this service well. We will therefore be celebrating the past 10 years with a party for the staff and children from across the years. The season is now over, but we are immensely proud of what the After School Club has accomplished.”

To find out more about BDCA’s continuing community support services for people of all ages, please visit bonnydowns.org/whats-on