How much Games/PE is timetabled at your childs school?

[lostinsurrey]

Hi Mumsnetters I would like know how much time is timetabled for Games/PE on average per a week. Interested in indie and state looking to see if it is worth the fees at an indie school? Thanks

[teacherwith2kids]

DS's 8 hours a week cost, AFAI recall, about £70 per year in subs. All after-schoool clubs are free, cricket and football have team subs but the total is still very low...

DD's dancing, on the other hand......

[Kewcumber]

It can be costly for parents who can ill afford it - its not generally costly if you do the after school clubs provided by school £5 a session - and most school give free or cheap clubs to children on free school meals. At least ours does. Dnephews went to a very very sporty private prep and didn't play anymore sport overall than DS does and I'm a single motehr on benefits. Its more to do with the attitude of parents and inclinations of the child. In fact I saw more overweight children at their prep being ferried to school in cars than at our state school!

Loads of children in DS's school do organised sport at the weekend nothing to do with the school so people haven't mentioned it I guess

[mulv2222]

Yes I appreciate not everyone enjoys sport and also there are many who will do sports out of school. However, others may not get that same opportunity to do sport outside school. It can be costly for parents who can ill afford it. I also think it's very important that children exercise. Some might do very little and it can benefit children in so many ways. I suppose I see it's value as mine love sports and even go and do extras out of school too.

[teacherwith2kids]

Mulv,

DD - year 6, state - does 13+ hours a week of outside school PE (dance). DS - year 8, state - does at least 8 hours per week of a varety of extra-curricular sport.

I really don't need them to do more than 2-3 hours per week planned within the school day.

I do understand that if youy buy the 'whole package', with everything done within the school, then you might want more timetabled sport / PE. But for many state-educated children, school-based sport is only part of a much wider diet of physical activity.

[chauffeurmummy]

Yr 2 at a prep - one games lesson and two PE lessons per week.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

That sounds like my dds idea of hell mulv.

[mulv2222]

I am shocked and dismayed at how little some schools that are mentioned here do :(

Indie prep mine do 1.5hrs a day minimum. Weds pm matches. Some sat/sun matches. Sports clubs are on top every night for a further hr.

[Taffeta]

2 x PE sessions per week of an hour
Y3 1 hour swimming per week
Optional before and after school free sports clubs: boys football, girls football, netball, tag rugby, cross country
Other paid for sports clubs at school as well

State primary

[Butkin]

DD is Yr 6 Indie. She has 2 sports sessions of 2 hours 20 mins each. In addition every Wednesday afternoon is for matches. On the rare occasions they don't have matches planned they still do sport.

They have after schools sports club on 3 days a week (about an hour - free). Children who want to plan in teams are encouraged to attend these sessions.

Very occasionally they will be asked to do things at weekends - usually cross country runs etc in inter-school games.

[StressedandFrazzled]

DS Independent school year 8: They do just under 3 hours of time-tabled sport a week, plus usually one match a week, and school lunch time sports club if they want, plus my DS does one after school sport club.

[Clavinova]

Indie secondary schools usually focus on one major sport per term depending on that particular school's preference, so 2-3 hours per week of rugby, hockey, football or cricket for boys and hockey, netball, lacrosse or tennis for girls.This is compulsory for the lower years and a whole term of rugby for example may not appeal to some boys! There is usually one short PE /and or swimming lesson per week as well plus athletics in the summer and occasional cross country running. Other sports such as badminton will be catered for in lunchtime and after school clubs plus extra rugby,hockey,netball etc for the super keen.The games curriculum in a state school is much broader and is more likely to include such things as dance, table tennis, aerobics, volleyball etc in time tabled lessons. There is definitely much more focused and disciplined sport at an indie with more opportunity to progress in a particular sport within the school (rather than at an outside club) but it depends what you're looking for; you haven't said whether your child likes sport or not!

[HippoCritic]

On, and state schools for both of them.

[HippoCritic]

For my eldest in secondary, they have 2hrs of PE a week, and are expected to be in at least one sport or activity club- these mostly last an hour, so about 3hrs per week.

In primary, they have two lessons a week, so 2hrs each week, but they get involved in organised games and stuff in the playground and so on.

[Treaclepot]

State city school,
3 times an hour during school time,
But my yr 2 does ballet, football, athletics at after school club each week (£2 a session, bit cheaper than a private school!)
And my yr3 does cricket, athletics, dodgeball and swimming.

[outtolunchagain]

Ds year7 in local indie, he has one triple lesson of games , one double and a double of PE .Some children obviously do a lot more with after school clubs etc

[SoldeInvierno]

Independent Y6: 3x double games lesson, 1x double PE, and in the summer they do swimming. Clubs tend to be sports based as well

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Senior indie - one double PE lesson (1hr10) and one triple Games lesson (1hr45) a week plus twice a week they have compulsory hobbies/enrichment time tagged onto lunchtime clubs so geeks like ds can do extra chess or writing and his sporty mates can row/run/do extra hockey/rugby etc etc.

I think it's about right. Day longer than state school so they do the same if not slightly more time on academic lessons as well.

[totallyuseless]

Schools vary as per this thread. Personally I think too much sport during the school day is not a good thing as it takes away from valuable teaching time.

[Kewcumber]

why don;t you just contact your local schools and ask. Surely an accurate answer for the schools you're considering is better?

[lostinsurrey]

Thanks for all your replies they are really helpful. Does anyone know how much sport is timetabled in indie secondary schools? Is it more than state secondaries?

[Ishouldbeweaving]

State secondary yr 9 is a double (outdoor) and a single (indoor) lesson a week (just short of three hours in total). If you're not taking PE as a GCSE then it drops two hours in Y10 and one hour in Y11.

There are optional lunchtime and after school activities for those that want them.

[Kewcumber]

State primary

2 hours in curriculum
2 hours additional sports clubs after school (cost £5 each)

Unusually DS's school also has organised sports every lunchtime which is probably another 4 hours a week.

Surely not worth comparing random state with random indie - surely you compare the actual schools you like with each other.

[Marmitelover55]

DD1's comp do a double lesson of games per week, a single lesson of PE and a single swimming lesson. A single lesson is 50 minutes and a double is 100 minutes. So total = 200 minutes per week or 3 hours 20 minutes. There are lots of sports clubs, but DD1 is not interested.

[mimbleandlittlemy]

State comp - 2 x 1 hour of games and 2 x 1 hour of PE a fortnight.

Lots of additional sports available in lunchtime and after school clubs so ds does a further 2 hours of sport in school per week.