Lack of extra-curricular activities at school

Schools rarely have teachers running clubs anymore. Usually external providers, big chain companies, are brought in and parents pay a fee either via school or directly to the company.

Its really not that much work for school to put in place - which is why loads of schools do manage to put a few clubs in place!
And absolutely schools are expected to pay some attention to extra curricular, and Ofsted do look at it - school local to me the range of ex curricular clubs on offer was praised.

So OP is right to be a touch disappointed. Its not that much to expect, plenty of schools do manage it.

I am often adked to run afters hool clubs because I run a kids sports club as a business. They cap the amount I can charge at £5 to make it inclusive. Why would I want to work for half my normal rate

I haven’t read the whole thread but have skimmed OPs replies. Firstly I get what you are saying OP. I do after school and out of school clubs and after school ends at 4.15 while out of school end 5pm at the earliest, and it feels like the night has gone.

My DCs school is a brilliant one form entry school and really punches with it’s extra curricular offerings. There are breakfast and afterschool wrap around but also breakfast clubs (3xs a week mainly for KS2) and afterschool clubs (some days there are several on the same night) all by external providers (and not just sports clubs, I mean professional cricket coaches, tennis coaches, art school teachers etc) the only teacher led one is a homework club for 1 hour.

I will say though that there is really only a couple of clubs for reception and this builds until KS2 when there is something everyday. Also not all clubs are as good as out of school. Dance for example is year 1-6 and let’s just say it’s about having fun rather than learning anything. But, as a large 3 form school I struggle to understand, if the parent cohort is well off, why there isn’t some offerings.

There must be a reason so I’d tread carefully. You need to discuss it as a PTA and not go solo on this. Maybe, as a PTA, gently discuss with school about sending out a parent survey about interest in after school offerings and if there is interest offer to set up a trial of a few clubs. I disagree with PP who say teachers need to be on site. They don’t, only the caretaker. Many schools rent out to other clubs on a weekend the caretaker opens and closes the school.

Good luck, I think it’s worth asking, but maybe as group rather than on your own.

Thank you for this. It's getting harder to remember the thankful and positive parents and I know there are many. It's sad that a few rude and entitled people ruin things for everyone.

if the school has a 'childcare wraparound provision it is usually in the hall, which would be the only place to run dance , badminton gymnastics or whatever club

Yes, not all children in reception are exhausted by school.

My summer born in reception does some activities - swimming and dance and after school club 3x week. He is absolutely not tired, he is full of beans.

@Sherrystrull I can assure you most parents are very thankful to teachers who run a club, although there is no expectation for you to do this. I can still remember a teacher who ran a dance club after school, which my DD loved. I was in awe of this teacher. She was immaculate had a class of Year 2 and then still had enough energy to do this too!

I am sure many parents WILL remember the effort you put into these clubs - I still do 10 years later!

Some kids enjoy that though. I have twins and they always want to pick up more activities. We do ballet , rugby, swimming, musical theatre as a core. But often end up picking up
other stuff and do a ten week course skiing, curling, ice skating, pottery, chatterbooks over last year.

I used to run clubs. It was thankless. An hour and a half extra one night a week.
It's a massive job to set up, run and organise. Plus even though they finished at 4.30 there were always parents arriving at 4.45 then insisting I went searching for missing gloves etc.

To come back to the classroom at 4.45 to begin my evening work that I would then take an hour and a half from my evening to complete, meaning time from my own children was also hard.

But I used to do it as I could see the children really enjoyed them.

Not now however, my children come first. The attitudes of the parents, the inability to thank me for my time were the nail in the coffin.

We have external providers in to do clubs but I still have to dismiss the children to make sure they go home safely afterwards.

I'm tired of the expectations that teachers' time is worth nothing.

Your child is rexeption age and doing ballet, gymnastics and performing arts. She must be very tired, OP. Downtime at home probably more beneficial than yet another activity.

“I assume they use their external after school provider as an umbrella for various activities, but in my opinion, that's not good enough.”

Can I ask why it isn’t good enough?

It’s obviously much more cost effective to have one ASC provider run a club in the hall and playground/field with areas for art, chess, cake decoration, a game of rounders or whatever and the children do the bits they want on whichever days they are in.

This is about op wanting school to fit around her work, nothing else

@noshadowatnoon it's contracted paid hours- some are also TAs paid for the extra time. The school has a slightly shorter term which contracts staff for a longer day.

I really don't know what people expect schools to do to increase the likelihood of after school clubs being possible? Sack all mothers and only employ single childless women or males?

And do you think forcing staff to do all that extra is helpful or constructive? That is roughly and extra 3 hours work a week to have a club open for one hour. How would you feel if your employer informed you tomorrow that you were going to do an extra 3 hours work a week "voluntarily" as of tomorrow?

I'm not sure why you're getting a hard time, OP, it's perfectly fine to ask the head what the plans are in that regard. DC's school has really poor extracurricular provision- this is for 2 reasons: a) completely obsessed with SATs b) a relatively poor intake with limited money to pay for external clubs. They do try with the money they have but the total absence of any sports teams, choir or drama or music (and hardly any after school club places) is one of the reasons we're moving DC2 for juniors. I do think it's part of school life to get experience playing as a team for your school, putting on a show etc, and that this also provides a way for kids to excel who might struggle with academic work. In this school's case it has gone massively downhill since covid and a change of leadership.

I think every (?) teacher has to run 1 club a year at the school, for a term- 3.30-4.30 - but that often means it's not particularly skilled provision unless the staff member knows what they are doing.

Anyway, ask the head. See what they say.

You can't really use classrooms. Teachers will still be working and preparing for the next day. The classrooms are their work space where their resources are.

The ASC will already have chess sets, arts stuff, maybe not science but ours do bits of baking and cake decoration.

Lots of paid providers the hours are so limited that they are really a side hustle to a main job or a part time income while at college or uni so probably aren't even available at 3pm.

I really don't see where you are going with this.

what do you think will change if you "raise it with the school" and then "follow it up"??

Given that I don’t know the OP’s school, I can’t possible answer that. But it will hopefully be noted and, hopefully, passed on. Maybe the school won’t start to run extra clubs, maybe they will. But better to mention it rather than not.

Ive taught in state primary for over ten years. My mum, my husband, my MIL, my SIL and more than half my friends are teachers. Different schools have different culturesu; i doubt anything will happen immediately if OP raises it, it’s a long game. But better than grumbling and not saying anything.

But as I said in my post, it’s worth managing expectations of the school in general. Not all schools do everything all of the time.

what do you think will change if you "raise it with the school" and then "follow it up"??

A couple of staff will suddenly realise that they do in fact have a couple of hours spare per week that can be sacrificed, which they hadn't noticed before? Well, great, that would possibly sort out the offer of one ASC.... which might not be for the age or activity that the OP wants anyway.

Does the PTA have a platform to communicate with school, or are they mainly about fundraising? If there’s an opportunity to raise this with the school within your PTA meetings, then yes do it. Frame it as representing some of the views of your fellow parents. Keep it brief and then follow up at the next meeting.

Some schools I have worked in have had a Parent Council separate to PTA. I don’t know if your school does, but if so, then that would be an appropriate forum to raise this. If you’re not on the Council yourself, you could ask a parent who is.

You could also become a governor? It’s a great role, will give you lots of insight into the schools priorities and will also be a chance to have an impact.

Some schools send out parent feedback forms. This may be infrequently, maybe even once a year. I take it your school hasn’t done this?

It may be worth managing your expectations of the school in general. Not all schools do everything well all of the time. No school is perfect - and a BC and AFC, along with regular sports clubs is an ok offer.

Your child has only been there six months, so you may not be seeing the full picture re extra curriculars.

I would hold back on mentioning the website. That makes your concerns look less credible. And also your talk about the school providing a good all round education. Just keep it brief and factual “feed back from parents is that we’d love more clubs”.

YABU

My dc school does offer a range of ASC clubs which is less about the dc and more about people making money off parents with more money than sense.

If you want your dc to be good at something send them to a proper club, not an in school taster.

In reception I'd keep AS activities to a minimum though swimming is essential and then there's usually something that you might start young.

As I keep mentioning, it's something a lot of fellow parents of our class have been questioning

Do you know what, I cringe when I think of the things I used to assume about my children's school when they were young, before I worked in a primary myself. Once you've worked in one for a few years yourself you realise that most parents have absolutely NO CLUE about all the effort and hard work that goes on behind the scenes to try to give children the best experience they can. Honestly, some of the trivial things we've had parents complain about, you wouldn't believe. As for the "helpful" suggestions that come in sometimes to change how we operate. Maybe 10% of them give us pause for thought and sometimes we reflect and do change something. But most of the time, well.....it's probably spoken about in the staff room with an eye roll.....

Yes, @noshadowatnoon , it's easy, isn't it? 😉

Something else to consider is what happens when parents don't arrive to collect their child at the end of the club. It happens ALL the time. Parents saunter up the path with barely an apology. The external provider has long gone as they have to get to their next venue. So it's left for random school staff that are left on site to deal with the child, ring round parents etc. Those staff may need to get to a meeting, or to go home to collect their own child.

What will happen when the external provider is using a multi-use school space that has to be used as an emergency meeting space, or for a parent event that had to be changed last minute? External providers are then not happy if after school clubs have to be cancelled. Causes repercussions, hassle for school staff, parents, all round problem.

It can be done of course, but it's really not as simple and straight forward as you're making out, OP.

ok so sort it out then, you can do all the organisation, research, assessing, form filling, rearrangement of furniture, room booking, extra cleaning, resource provision, first aid cover, recruitment, communications with home, planning, paperwork, costing, insurance, money collections, registration, etc.

You can do it just as easily as anyone else

Some external providers are questionable. They're very hit and miss.

You mention classroom clubs. You seem to have forgotten about the need to keep the school clean too? At my primary we have a team of cleaners on site between 3pm and 5pm. They have to avoid cleaning the hall floor and any classrooms where enrichment activities are taking place until after it's finished and everything tidied away. Then it's a mad rush to get the area cleaned in time.
I mean, we run the clubs. For the kids' sake (not the parents', I hasten to add). But there are more and more demands on schools. More and more is foisted onto staff, squeezed into the school day. Regulations become stricter each year. It's becoming harder and harder.

And what I've come to realise is that no matter WHAT your offering is, there will always be at least one bugger who complains about some aspect of it.