£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Perhaps I’m missing a factor in it all, perhaps I’m out of date?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?

Reasonable and good value. Who do you think should pay for them?

If the club is being run by TAs they will need to be paid.
If there is equipment to buy - the school may now need to charge (if budgets were healthier in the past they may have absorbed these costs)
If outside agencies are involved they will be paid.

If teachers run the club- they won't be paid. At least they might be in academies who have more freedom with pay, but not in LEA run schools. Teachers are just expected to give up their time, which makes it even more frustrating when parents moan.

The school will have a published pupil premium policy on their website. You can also request a copy.

Both can be paid. Teachers certainly can claim for clubs. LEA schools are included in this. It is documented by the gov.

That kind of price is normal around here. It's an activity that's run by a company inside the school, that's why it costs more.

Depends on how they they're run. Ones led by school staff are usually much cheaper - ours charges £1 per week (teachers aren't paid overtime to run them - it' voluntary so no staff payment needed). However, external specialist ones are much more. I've just paid £75 for a term's worth of cookery club sessions., led by a chef.

Teachers can claim for clubs now the gov has said.

As a headteacher we had two different offers.

1. The free/low cost after school club, offered by staff, often something the staff member enjoyed, a hobby they wanted to share. No pressure at all on staff to provide Short session, time limited ( 6 week blocks). Flexible approach. Not childcare. Minimum if any contribution.
2. After-school, wrap around care. End of school until 18.00. Everyday, reliable, consistent. Range of activities during.

Parents always advised NOT to rely on option 1 for childcare around work. Option 1 might not run, due to staff absence, might not be repeated after the first 6 week offer, might be full or might be offered to a different group of children each time it ran.

We're in Bradford... Definitely not a super expensive area! But still have to pay for all school clubs!

That's a great price OP!

I stand corrected.

That's good - certainly when I was a class teacher we were expected to run clubs, but were not paid for the extra hours.

I don't think many are told as no one I know of knew about it when I told them. It was only this academic year I found out and it was shared as being a new thing.

I agree. The OP sounds ridiculously entitled.

£11 per extra curricular activity sounds about right. My son’s swimming lessons are £13 a time (30 mins) Gynastics is about £50 odd a month which works out similar. We do have one ‘after school’ activity at the school which is football, and that’s £45 per half term so a little cheaper which we consider a bargain (run by external team) So there is some variation but this doesn’t sound out of the realms of normal. We’re in Surrey if relevant.