to not think much of 'Perform' and similar franchised extra-curricular activities

[AgaPanthers]

They came to DD's school to do an activity (free for the school I assume). Leaflets handed out. We ignored.

Then they had 'refer a friend day', we went along at another mum's recommendation. DD is 6 and they seemed to do some running around and singing, fun enough but not exactly ground-breaking. The problem was the fees, which were astronomical, I don't remember the exact figure unfortunately (and they don't put it on their website), but it was ~£180 for 10 1.5 hour sessions, and if you can't come one week well that's tough.

Since then we've had mailshots, '£40 off your first term' and all this other marketing bumpf.

There are lots of other activities locally, DD does ballet, with a teacher with lots of experience and smaller classes than Perform (I think they have up to 20?), and the Perform website doesn't offer any credentials at all for their franchisees: www.perform.org.uk/about-us.html

They seem to be doing pretty well, albeit that they are confined entirely to London and commuter towns, but AIBU to think that paying so much money for a large group activity for 4-8 year olds isn't worth it all?

I pay £324 per term for Stagecoach on Saturdays

Before this term it was £162 for 1.5 hours and now it's £324 for 3 hours.

I think it's worth it.

He can continue going until he's 18 if he wants. He enjoys it, I can "afford" it (don't go out very often, don't buy wine/cigs etc) so why not? - but that's just my opinion.

I'd love a term for £40!!

The term wasn't £40, it was £40 OFF on the first term only, so £140 rather than £180.

My point was that they seem to have a large marketing budget, in terms of doing 'free' days in schools, offering discounts, refer-a-friend, etc., but other activities seem to get by fine on word of mouth/reputation.

Yeah I totally agree with you. Flashy advertising and higher prices for something thst can be done just as well or better on a smaller scale.

So while my DDs friends go to stage coach she goes to the local church hall where she does an hour and a half ballet, tap and musical theatre for £7 a week (paid monthly). 12 children, 1 qualified teacher and three trainees. They do their exams and an annual show in our local theatre.

No I dont like then either...I was tempted in the early days when I had not looked at what was available to us locally, they are un clear on charges, and everything you said. i saw pics of someones child in them once on FB and it looked shite.

I dont trust them.

I agree with you OP.

DD did one term of Stagecoach. They seemed to do little more than play and dance to One Direction .

The guy in charge then told us she was bored of the little kids group and that he was willing to bump her up to the older group. This cost £25 a session . We didn't go back after the two remaining sessions of the term.

She loves performing but I'd rather find somewhere independent to send her for classes.

My daughter goes to our local Rep - £55 a term with qualified and experienced directors and actors - worth every penny

My DD1 goes to a local dance school. They have 2 fully qualified dance teachers there, plus an assistant. She does 3 classes, which take 2 hours in total, and it costs us £10. She does medal tests twice a year, but has chosen not to do competitions (some of her friends regularly compete at Blackpool.)

DD2 attends a local drama workshop. It is run by someone who works in theatre in education, and also runs the youth theatre attached to the theatre in the next town. Her 1.5 hour session per week costs £5.

They have both had opportunities to perform in professional theatre venues, have made great friendships, and love their classes. Even if I could afford one of the big franchise companies (which I couldnt - we make sacrifices as it is to send them to their current classes plus one instrumental lesson each per week) I wouldn't change what they do. However not all children are the same, and my friend's daughter absolutely thrived at her drama/dance/singing classes each Saturday.

My DCs both went to Perform for a couple of years and got a lot out of it, DD especially. It was expensive and DS gave it up when he got too old. DD decided to give it up as she just lost interest but it was a huge confidence booster to her.

The end of term shows they do are really lovely although everything is formulaic.

One thing that got me with it was the costumes needed for the shows are the same as ones you can get on amazon for double the price. I did find that extremely unecessary and always set about finding a cheaper way of getting a similar one.

I'm sure you can get similar benefits from cheaper, more independent groups. Perform worked for us in terms of timing and location.

My ds (aged 6) is in his 2nd term of Perform. He loves it. Yes it is expensive but he has really grown in confidence. He has been paunfully shy in new situations from about the age of 2. Next week he has got a large part in his class assembly at school which he is looking forward to because he is now used to speaking in larger groups.

We have no intention of encouraging him to go down a stage school route. That's not really what Perform is about IMO. It's great fun, fits in well with our weekend and ds gets a lot out of it.

My daughter does Perform, it has worked wonders for her self confidence and I think it is worth the money. It isn't franchised BTW. But I don't approve of them marketing direct to the kids via schools, I had to be very firm and say we weren't doing the holiday camps as well which she had heard about at school.

But its he drama, not perform per see thats helping her confiddene

They are franchises so what you get varies from location to location in terms of quality. You can't write the whole lot off just because of your experience of one or two.

I have experience of Stagecoach - all my children have been, enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. Theirs is a big, well-run school with teachers who know what they are doing and who often appear on stage or in films or on TV themselves.

Most children who go to Stagecoach aren't aiming to be in the West End and that shouldn't be the reason for going. Those who do take performing more seriously will probably supplement Stagecoach classes with other classes elsewhere. I can think of several children from the Stagecoach my children go to who have been in the West End - with big parts - in the past few years.

Yes, it is expensive but if you can afford it and get a good school it can do wonders for your child's confidence and performing skills. Plus they will probably love it too.

ours is 95 per term for an hour.

I'm not writing them off based on my experience of one or two, I just think the whole concept doesn't make sense.

There are a hundred-and-one activities locally involving kids jumping around in church halls.

OTOH I pay much the same sort of money for climbing lessons, and even more for one-to-one guitar lessons. That's fair enough, because (a) the climbing comes with purpose-built facilities and smaller groups and (b) the guitar teacher is working with just DS, not 20 other children, and he basically devotes his whole life to the guitar and is fantastic.

I don't quite get it either, but I'm not complaining because they come into our school regularly and give the children a great time.

They are really good, all the various people that have been are clearly talented and good at what they do.

The classes are expensive, but if people are willing to pay it then good luck to them.

I'm sure there are good ones but we have Stagecoach here and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
None of the teachers have more than a portfolio of extra work, west end chorus roles, semi pro work and none have recognisable names.
None are qualified to any decent level although a couple have a teaching or support qual.
If people are stupid enough to pay well that's their fault tbh, you know in this day that you need to do research on these things.

So you're paying £12 an hour for activities? I think that's pretty cheap and as it's done in the school probably convenient to get to. Things like Ballet, flute lessons ect are about £12 for half an hour round here.

£12 for half-an-hour's ballet? Really? There are about 20 in the class, so you can't really compare to flute lessons.

They don't do it in the school, they do it on a Saturday in a local hall, although it is obviously quite convenient for many people. The schools they just use for marketing (go and deliver a free session for the school, and hand out leaflets at the end).

My DTDs go to a youth theatre run by the local theatre. I pay £30 per term for each of them. They absolutely love it. They're performing a kids' version of The Tempest at the professional theatre in half term. Their group is 7-11 yr olds and there are about 16 of them. Several children I teach (secondary drama teacher) are in the 11-14 and 15-19 yr old groups and the stuff they do is really good quality.

On the other hand, I teach a boy who goes to PQA - his mum pays a fortune and he enjoys it, but the stuff they do is formulaic.

I went to see the local Stagecoach do "Guys & Dolls Jnr" last summer and it was good, but only because they'd joined up with the theatre Youth Theatre to do it. Having seen DVDs of their other shows, it seems to be more about getting their 140 kids on the stage and off again.

2 hour ballet lesson sounds a bit hardcore?