£66 for an after school club?

[EmmaJane2025]

Just had some details from school about this term’s after school clubs. Two of them are £40 and the other, £66!
For context, this is a state school with a mix of a few students from comfortably-off families, many average & some Pupil Premium students. Obviously if this was an Independent school then this wouldn’t even cross my mind to be an issue but a state school? Do state schools usually charge for after school clubs? This one hasn’t done before; I’ve never been required to pay for the ones my DC attended previously.

Perhaps I’m missing a factor in it all, perhaps I’m out of date? It just seems unfair that students from lower income families will likely miss out on something I truly believe all kids should have the opportunity to attend - extra curricular activities.
AIBU?

I pay £60 a term for drama , works out less than £6 a week which i think is pretty good.

Crikey! Ours was 35p for breakfast club in 2021!
It's just gone up to 50p.

I truly believe all kids should have the opportunity to attend - extra curricular activities.

The tax payer can’t fund everything. Who is going to to do this for free?!

You live in London, everything is more expensive there. We’re far, far north. £66 is a lot here. Plus it’s being run by a school teacher in a school that’s already still got lights & heating etc on due to the childcare service they run concurrently. It’s 40 mins x 6! It’s a talking club. What overheads can they possibly have on top of the funding they already receive from pupil premium students!

Please research how much money a school receives for each pupil premium student

Pay £11/session at after school club and sometimes there is an activity (like football, karate etc) which can be booked as extra as external providers deliver them - usually about £20 for 6 sessions. Even sports coaching they do outside of school is cheaper than £11 for 40 mins so I think it sounds a bit much

£1,480

So then ask the school if they have exemptions for low income pupils.

People need paying. I'm.from a poor background. There was loads of things I wasn't able to do due to money- didn't kill me. We can't always have what we want.

Our school in London is £50 per term for 10 club sessions but reduced to £20 for any children receiving pupil premium which is reasonable I think. Not aware of any schools offering completely free clubs and can’t really see how they could be sustainable.

I’m surprised after school clubs were ever free.
Who pays the teachers running them if they are free?

So Yes
I think to pay for the teachers and the facilities of course there should be a charge for all.

What overheads can they possibly have on top of the funding they already receive from pupil premium students!

The teacher. Or do you expect them to do it for free?

None of the kids school clubs are free at my dc school. Vary in price, the ones provided by school teachers are around £80 per term but others are higher. My daughter is doing coding which is £40 every 4 weeks! Amazed you ever had them for free tbh, the places must go like hot cakes.

Schools can use pupil premium finding to cover the costs of pupils on it whos parents can afford it to provide them extra opportunities.

In fact they should be using pupil premium for those entitled for this type of thing. It may be a case you can only choose 1 of the 3. But pupil premium finding to to help support the gap between those who have and those who need support to access.

I live in the north, school has higher than national average PP, we pay for clubs

Oh I completely agree there should be a charge. Just not these charges. I’m not saying they should be free, just that they were previously and now it’s jumped up to this cost.

It seems odd to complain about the cost of something when you don't know what it is.

I haven’t a single clue where my DC’s Pupil Premium goes as the school doesn’t give free school meals in return for it (apparently it no longer applies to meals?) and zero help with uniform so 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am also ‘far far North’ and my children’s primary school has never offered any free after school clubs. Most are in the £8-£10 per session region so I would not say £66 for 6 sessions is unreasonable

Nope I’m in Yorkshire. You can see from the replies plenty of people think charging reasonable though even if you dispute the amount.

Our school does hour long teacher run clubs 2 days a week for free, but they are generally amazing 😬

The school will have a published Pupil Premium Strategy.

It maybe that they have allocated some PP money to support disadvantaged pupils to attend after school, if this matches the areas identified for support. Wider opportunities are part of the strategy and included in inspection.

And PP funding isn’t an individual allocation to spend in each child who is eligible. It’s to fund improvements in outcomes for children in this group as a whole so can be used for a wide variety of things. Your schools PP strategy will be on their website so you can see how they are using it.

School budgets are incredibly tight and they are having to look for ways of raising income to pay for the basics. Most charge for extra curricular activities but will offer free or reduced places for families that need it.

Ask them?

All the staff led clubs at my dc school are free. Only the external clubs have fees. However without knowing what that club actually involved and what the running costs might be, it’s hard to say whether it is poor value or fair.