Shouldn’t after school clubs be for everybody?

Sorry - I missed the 'free' at the start of the message!

Is it a free club or a paid for club?
Is it run by the school or an outside agency?
Does it market itself as an 'elite' type training club for the most able players?

Maybe the school could look at finding an alternative provider who will offer a less competitive club as well?

Or is there an alternative outside of school you could look into?

Some children are naturally good at sports. So saying how can they be talented at both is ridiculous because you know the answer is yes they can! However, any after school clubs should be fully inclusive of the are free. I am assuming it’s not for a school team going to play in inter school competitions where they are more likely to choose those with an aptitude for the sport!

This sounds like sports teams, not after school clubs. In which case, it's fine imo to select based on ability.
The school should be offering some after school clubs that are just that though - clubs for anyone to attend, if they get a space. Sports and other activities. Shame if they've had to stop this. Likely a cost issue.

Completely agree with you op. It’s exclusionary and discriminatory to do it any other way.
But I do remember them doing it this way in Primary school in the 80s too (I can only speak for netball)
In the first few years, anyone could play netball after school. But after those first few years, our netball coach had picked those of us she wanted to focus on training up for the school team, so after we reached a certain age nobody else new could join and those that she didn’t deem good enough for the team were no longer invited to play after school.
It’s awful now I think about it, but I was too focused on being the best I could be back then 🤣

Completely unfair the clubs should be about enriching pupils lives not winning mentality. It automatically rules out less able kids and potentially kids who haven't had private lessons .

I'd complain to the head as in this scenario there are children missing out who potentially won't have opportunities else where.

That's not ok, but that's different to what you said above.

The cross country club for everyone ceased to exist after they had a team for the local league.

That's awful. I'd complain. Sport should be for fun at that age. What a way for the school to knock the confidence of the children not selected

DS school a lot do the clubs we’re over subscribed so they’d place based on if you’d done a club before. You wouldn’t get a space on two clubs whilst some
got none.

It's not 'secret' it's just squad training. If your child isn't in the squad why would you need to know? Schools send enough irrelevant information out as it is.

If they're offering training for all but split by ability I really can't see what the issue is.

If the club was to train for the school team I suspect they needed to check those people taking the limited space available were good enough. Free clubs are unusual, the only free clubs at my dcs school were for taking part in matches

At my son's Primary there was a club for the good players/school team one day and a club for anyone else who wanted to play football on another day. The cross country club was, in theory open to everyone, but there was a " secret " club for the kids who ran for the school cross country team. 🙄

Ours are first come first served and you can only put your child down for one club initially. If there's another club you want you can register interest and may get a space if any remain after the initial booking period

Are these clubs sports teams who play in matches/tournaments to represent the school?

Or are these clubs a fun activity for children to join in/parents to use as free childcare?

In an ideal world, the school would offer both so as to be inclusive.

However, most free after school clubs are run by teachers or TAs on a 'voluntary' basis. They don't get paid for it and the time isn't included in their directed hours. In most schools, the teachers are compelled to 'volunteer' and it makes their workload even heavier.

Running an after-school club with the set up, club, clearing away, dealing with parents, late pick ups etc etc generally means the teacher loses 1-2 hours of planning/prep/marking time every week which they still have to do, probably that same day. Over time, it really affects workload and staff wellbeing.

Maybe that's the explanation here.

Maybe they could do with some parent volunteers to help take the pressure off the teachers having to provide free childcare after school to please everyone. Or maybe a paid sports provider is the answer. Or you could suggest it's done on a rota basis.

Is it possible your son has misheard or misunderstood how the the clubs have been filled?
It could just be that they have filled up fast and he missed out?
If not, then I agree that isn’t very inclusive at all. The school should be encouraging all abilities to have a try.

Ideally every child should have the opportunity to access the clubs throughout the year, by rotation if numbers are high. What tends to happen is that often it's first come, first served. However, all children should at least have the opportunity to apply.

YANBU at all - that is not okay! Ours is first come first served, which isn't perfect but it is fair.

The worst thing about this is the unfairness in terms of wrap around costs. The parents of those 3 kids allowed access to 3 free after school sport clubs are saving themselves the cost of 3 nights of paid afterschool childcare every week. Round here that would equate to about £30-£40 every week.
Why is it fair that if your kid is naturally sporty you get it free but if your kid isnt, you have to go to the paid afterschool childcare?!

I'm surprised at the number of PP's schools that have a PE teacher.
Our primary schools don't have dedicated subject teachers.
Some of the more sporty teachers may run a sports club after school - and they are for all abilities.
I was pissed off when they set up a netball club - to get more girls interested in a sport - but opened it to boys. The boys that pissed about ruined it for the less sporty girls. My daughter gave it up because of the boys.
In the OPs position, I'd be annoyed and complain.

Not necessarily, depending on timings , the club could still be part of their contracted hours. Or some school offer some kind of "remuneration ". For example, at DD's old school, any teacher that runs a club for a term gets a day off .

Yanbu op.

Fine if they do a separate "school team" but really outrageous to switch it without telling parents

I agree with you OP! My kids are not naturally sporty but both do sports 4x plus a week. Sport has so much benefit for everyone, from the most able to the least.

we have had to fight this battle in both primary and secondary schools - both state. And change has happened as a result. By secondary, I think it’s ok to choose the best players for tournaments etc, and nothing wrong with celebrating those who are naturally good at sport, but for after school clubs, they need to be inclusive. All kids should be encouraged to exercise more and be involved in team sports, and making the less able feel shit does not achieve that. It makes them opt out.

often the sporty kids are not the academic kids or arty or musical kids so they should be celebrated too, but my argument to school was this: my kids are great at English, but you wouldn’t say ‘right, Isla, Jane and Freya, you’re brilliant at English so we’re going to give you more attention, get you a special kit, give you the best teachers, so you get better’ so we shouldn’t do that with general after school activities either which should be open to all.

but I maintain that choosing the kids who are ‘best’ for some (not all) tournaments is ok. And that rules my kids out. They are good at other stuff and will be celebrated there.

to the poster who said ‘you can’t be good at basketball and football’ there are kids/people who are just naturally gifted at sport. One of my daughter’s mates started a sport she has played for years. After a single session she was better. She has great hand eye coordination and knowledge of game play - spacing for example - is the same in most team sport. We helped our daughter to see how great it was for her friend to be so naturally talented. And we point out that she has many talents her friend does not. Vive La difference!

but at primary, I think it should be based on inclusion and opportunity, not who is ‘best’, so everyone gets a turn and a chance to discover a talent or a love for sport.

It's very common for children to be good at more than one sport.

Of course they can ..sporty, well coordinated kids will often be good at most sports. The school are in the wrong here absolutely but don't overdo it.