PATCH survey results.

Over summer of 2004 PATCH surveyed local parents and workers to gain a view of the area. The following is a summary of the results of that survey.

Overview of the respondents:

All of the respondents either live or work locally. The parents/ carers all had children in the 3-8 age range, and all but one of the workers/volunteers have worked in the area for over a year, with 2 working for over 5 years.

Overview of the local issues.

We asked respondents what they considered to be the issues facing local families. The biggest issues were parenting, emotional difficulties and unemployment.

Local Child care

Almost 20% of the parents/ carers asked said their children did not attend some kind of after school or play-scheme, and only 33% had access to informal childcare. 50% declared that a lack of child care was a problem.
64% of workers have tried to referred children to out of school provision, but only 45% were accommodated, in all cases the problem as a lack of spaces at the provision. Only 27% of workers felt that local Play provision was adequate to local needs, and all those who thought it was adequate commented that that could only be the case if the local provision continued.

Opportunities for experience for local children.

We asked the families what they had done other than patch over the summer. 66% used the local park and 33% used the local swimming pool. Only one family had been on holiday but half of them had been on the trips. One of the parents stated that a lack of funds at home limited the opportunities

Patch's provision.

67% of the families responding said they had attended PATCH sessions before the summer. Though none of the children had been on the waiting list for the summer we know that this was well used. All of them stated they would welcome the opportunity for their children to attend more sessions.
33% of the respondents said their child had additional needs.
55% of the workers had referred children to PATCH but we were only able to accommodate their needs in 36% of cases. In all cases the problem was limited spaces. Only 27% of workers felt that Patch could offer enough sessions for all their families. 66% of workers declared they work with children with special needs.

Purpose of PATCH.

We gave both groups of people statements on the purpose of PATCH and asked them to rate how important those qualities were to themselves and their families on a scale of 1 to 5. Most respondents rated all of these qualities as very important, which we take as an indication that we are addressing the issues local families feel are important.

We also asked parents if they could tell us what their children got out of PATCH, or if there were any other comments they wanted to make. This is what they said:

Benefits of attending PATCH

• Making friends and building confidence,
• Enjoyment,
• Encourages independence from parents,
• Feeling good about himself and mixing with others.

Comments

• Patch is value for money and one of the best play schemes my son has attended. The staff are very supportive and I feel confident leaving my son.
• [Child] has really enjoyed herself this week. I just wish she could prehaps attend for another week.
• [child] enjoyed the playscheme and loves to dress up.
• He really liked coming to the playscheme and I get time on my own

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