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Use case
Wraparound Care
Trips
Clubs
E-Shop
Organisation size
7000+ children
LocationLondon
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Customer Stories
How MagicBooking Helped London’s Play Professionals Save Time & Satisfy Staff
More than 70% of our time has been saved. I would warmly recommend MagicBooking to another company or organisation. - Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager, The Play Professionals
3 min readMeet The Play Professionals
The Play Professionals have been enriching children’s lives for over 30 years, delivering high-quality wraparound care and holiday care across 10 schools and multiple London boroughs.
With decades of experience, their mission is to provide safe, engaging, and flexible childcare that supports working families - from early morning to after-school sessions and holidays.
When their operations grew, so did the complexity of managing payments, vouchers, and daily bookings.
That’s when The Play Professionals turned to MagicBooking’s class booking system to simplify payments, automate bookings, and give staff members back valuable time with the children.
Challenges
Before adopting MagicBooking, the Play Professionals were dealing with fragmented systems and heavy manual workloads. Admin time was eating into the team’s ability to focus on what truly mattered - the children.
Key Issues
- Manual booking and payment handling caused errors and confusion.
- Staff had to manage vouchers, tax credits, and multiple session types manually.
- Parents relied on phone or in-person communication to secure places.
- Record-keeping for accidents, incidents, and attendance was time-consuming and inconsistent.
- Paper registers made daily check-ins slow and prone to mistakes, with no central visibility across sites.
“Life was very different. I used to spend lots of time doing paperwork and obviously admin, and it would take away a lot of time from me to do what really, truly matters, like being with the children and bringing together staff.”
Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager
Solution
The Play Professionals implemented MagicBooking’s childcare and class booking system to automate their end-to-end process - from bookings and payments to attendance and reporting.
Key Features
- Automated parent bookings and payments: Parents can book and pay anytime, anywhere.
- Voucher and tax credit processing: All automated and managed smoothly, just like payments with credit cards, in one secure booking system.
- Digital registers and reports: Accident and incident forms stored safely and accessible instantly.
- Flexible scheduling: Ability to add or change daily sessions with ease.
- Waiting list management: Parents automatically notified when spaces become available.
“We have a lot of children who have working families tax credit, different vouchers. [MagicBooking] helps us to process those with excellence as well. It also gives us the flexibility to bring in new sessions.”
James Jalloh, Head of Service
Impact
Since adopting MagicBooking, the Play Professionals have drastically reduced their administrative tasks and improved the experience for both the Play Professionals’ team members and parents.
The day to day result of our cloud based booking software: smoother payments, simpler bookings, happier staff - and more focus on childcare.
Automated Admin & Staff Satisfaction
With all payments and bookings handled online, staff no longer spend hours managing bookings, spreadsheets or chasing parents. Everything is now recorded, stored, and managed digitally.
“Now, if [staff] have to fill in an accident report form or an incident report, it can easily be done, and all the information is recorded and stored safely.”
Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager
Clubs and schools report saving 4-5 working hours a day on admin with MagicBooking’s management tools.
Seamless Parent Experience
Parents are no longer burdened with admin tasks. Instead, they have an effortless booking journey. They can reserve sessions, manage payments, alter bookings, and join waiting lists - all from their phone, at home, or during a lunch break.
“Parents can now book the children in any time, in peace, at home, from the sofa, or when they're having their lunchtime during their busy day.
And if they haven't been able to secure a place for the children, MagicBooking creates a waiting list. So, there are no worries, there is no confusion, or arguments, who should have the place first. Magic Booking takes care of everything.”
Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager
Easy user experience for parents, schools, and staff
MagicBooking has improved transparency and reduced admin confusion across the board - from parents to staff to school partners.
“[MagicBooking has brought] much more clarification in terms of bookings, the process of admin for parents, carers, and also the schools. It has made things more easy for every member of staff.”
Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager
The result is smoother communication, fewer mistakes, and a better experience for families.
Smooth Payments & Financial Management
MagicBooking’s automation ensures every payment and voucher is processed correctly, removing the burden from staff and giving schools confidence when bidding for new sites.
“Schools [often] have problems with getting money from their parents. [Now] we can handle all the financial situations effectively and smoothly. We can also allow parents to book when they want to book, and it takes away a lot of the strain from our staff, who don't have to deal with the money or bookings.”
James Jalloh, Head of Service
Reliable Support & Continuous Growth
MagicBooking has been a true partner to the Play Professionals, supporting them through training, setup, and ongoing growth.
“The Play Professionals are growing all the time - and MagicBooking is growing with us.”
James Jalloh, Head of Service
The Final Word
MagicBooking’s class booking system has transformed how the Play Professionals operate.
What was once paper-heavy and stressful is now efficient, automated, and transparent - freeing staff to focus on what truly matters: the children.
“More than 70% of our time has been saved. I would warmly recommend MagicBooking to another company or organisation.”
Irene Bini, Operations Coordinator & Centre Manager
We collected this story in person with the Play Professionals. Watch the full 3-minute case study video here:
Do you want an automated class booking system?
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