OOPS (Oakleigh Opportunities Play Scheme)

About Us

Oops was set up in 1998 by the parents and staff of Oakleigh School and Acorn to provide a safe, clean and fun environment for the children to come to during the holidays. We are a registered charity and although we do get some funding from Barnet through the short breaks scheme, we are only able to stay open because of the extensive fundraising that the committee does. All of the parents whose children come to Oops are automatically part of this committee.

Over the years, the children have been to various places such as the London Eye, Legoland, the museums, bowling, the cinema, boat rides along the Thames and many more. We also have workshops going on as well as other activities like cooking, arts and crafts, music and sports.

In the summer of 2008, Oops had their most recent OfSTED inspection and gained a good in all areas. It is very tough to get a grade like this and we are all over the moon. Most of the staff at Oops work within the school setting already and therefore the children and staff know each other very well.

How You Can Help

We are always looking for different ways in which we can raise money for Oops. Over the years we have had car boot sales, quiz nights, raffles and even a sponsored sky dive. If you have any ideas or would like to organise a fundraising event yourself with the help of your friends and families or us, please let us know.

Raising money is a year round thing and we are also looking for some enthusiastic parents who are willing to give up some of their free time to form a sub committee dedicated to fundraising which will involve either putting events together, finding out about grants we could apply for or simply coming up with new ideas. Please let someone on the Management Team know if you are interested and we can give you more details.

This year we are looking into doing car boot sales plus quiz and bingo nights. We need all of your help to keep our beloved playscheme running.

Fees, funding and Booking a Place

The fees for Oops are £12 per day of which £5 is a non-refundable deposit. Barnet have recently introduced new ways to fund out of school activities, (short breaks). If your child is new at Oops, do not worry as this is really easy to set up. All you need to do is either contact the Disabled Children's Team on 020 8359 7721 and let her know you want your child to come to Oops before the first play scheme your child attends or speak to someone at Oops and they can contact a member of the Barnet team for you.

If your child has been to Oops before just book your place as normal and we will sort out the rest. If you want your child to come to Oops, the funding for that from Barnet is additional to any packages you may already have so you will not lose anything you are already getting.

The booking forms usually come out around 6 -7 weeks before a play scheme starts. We only have limited spaces for under 4’s and under 8’s so you need to get your forms in as early as possible. If you have not received a form within the 2 weeks after a half term, please do not hesitate to contact us as we get full quickly and we need to know numbers as soon as possible.