Company History

The company was set up in August 2002 by Sheila Fox, at that time a parent of a child at James Gillespie’s Primary School. Sheila operated as a child-minder in the Marchmont area for families of James Gillespie’s Primary School, until her decision to take the opportunity of funding available at the time to open an additional out of school care facility in the local area.

The Breakfast Club was the first part of the business to open, offering early morning care for the pupils of James Gillespie’s. This club closed in 2009 due to diminishing numbers of children using the service, but reopened in 2016, again based on-site at Gillespie’s primary.

Our after school club, initially known as Little Foxes, opened in October 2002 offering after school care at Barclay Viewforth Centre to the pupils of James Gillespie’s and other schools in the local community.

The opportunity then arose in April 2004 for the company to take over the management of James Gillespie’s Primary School after school club (JGASC) and, since 2010; both clubs have merged under the roof of Barclay Viewforth Centre – registered as Skool Is Out @ Barclay Viewforth.

Skool Is Out opened a second venue at Bruntsfield Centre for our senior children in 2010, and this currently provides childcare services for primary 4-7 children – Skool Is Out @ Bruntsfield.

The clubs are managed day-to-day by a Childcare Manager and Senior Practitioner staff and the Skool Is Out office is operated by our Administration Manager. Skool Is Out employs DunedinIT for our IT solutions and security.

Sheila remains Skool Is Out’s Director and assists the Senior Management Team in the general business operations and quality assurance processes. 

Like many other services, the clubs faced unique challenges in 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Our operations downsized significantly after substantial periods of enforced closure and children were cared for in bubbles/cohorts upon their return.

Since April 2022 the childcare sector has a whole has returned to greater normality and Skool Is Out continues to navigate our way through a period of business recovery.