Pros
Champions staff are, for the most part, dedicated professionals who love kids and want to keep them safe, engaged and happy. The families are great and creating a relationship with the school is rewarding. Some of the activities are fun and the hours for teachers and assistants are good if you have young children and you want to be home with them during the first part of the day. Trainings are well organised, but offer little in terms of real substance.
Cons
The wages are low, but the job is hard. There is a massive amount of staff turnover, and no wonder. Staff teachers, assistants and directors have a terribly hard job, and often the site is filled to capacity. They are paid low wages and have their hours cut drastically during the summer and holiday season. The Champions website/management promise all kinds of things to parents (book clubs, intensive homework help, character building,etc.), but none of these things can be carried out by staff on the ground because of the lack of time and resources. Management wants each site filled to the gills each and everyday, and won't even let directors suspend or kick out children who are gravely misbehaving (fighting with other kids, running offsite, hitting or kicking staff) and putting themselves and/or other children in danger. There are children onsite that should have been suspended or kicked out ages ago, but the management wants their parents' money, so they stay. The technology for parent registration & center record keeping is drastically out of date. This makes parents frustrated when trying to secure a spot for their child at a center, and creates headaches for the staff at the site trying to do their job. Often parents are charged for weeks their children didn't attend. Communication with management is often slow. Managers don't call or email back in a timely manner. This goes for communication between management and staff members, and management and parents, alike. Even though it was mentioned in the initial interview process, there is little to no room for professional development or career growth. The curriculum is far from progressive and is completely outdated. The activities are unrealistic to differentiate for children ages 4-12.