Private schools and extracurriculars

[TheLastLotus]

Don't have any children (yet!) but hearing people around me discuss it makes me wonder
Do private schools in the U.K offer better extracurricular activities?
I went to a state school in a Third World country (so think 50 people to a class etc) but I was bright and my parents paid for extracurriculars like music lessons and (extra foreign) foreign languages. There weren't a lot of options though.
The private schools on the other hand had a full junior orchestra, theatre group, drama, etc.

I was wondering if it's similar in the U.K? Of course it probably depends on the area. From what my colleagues have discussed where they lived (someplace between Liverpool and Cheshire) the private school had a large range and would be cheaper than private lessons. However in the heart of Manchester there are children's classes of all sorts

Developing rather than third world!!!

Private schools probably have a broader range than state schools but there's nothing to say you have to stick to extra curricular activities offered by the school. There are so many extra curricular activities for children now not through school.

@Onceuponatime1818 I'm a national of the country - our newspapers still use that term although I just Googled and discovered that it was considered offensive.
Did you have anything constructive to add to the actual thread subject matter by the way?

My experience-
Private schools offer a greater range of extra curriculars but very little of it is free and the paid stuff is more expensive than private lessons. At my daughters school I would pay double for her piano lessons in comparison to what I pay out of school.
There is a lot of sport and drama which we don’t pay extra for. Also choirs and orchestras are free but you have to get picked.
State schools will perhaps be limited by what staff they have who are able to willing to run extra curriculars also will be dependent on interest from the students. There are plenty of state schools that have excellent opportunities (for free) and will offer all sorts of things if they are paid for.
It very much depends on your area.

@Hellocatshome that's true - but surely it depends on the area though..?
Where I am I commonly see lots of activities but scattered all over (so a Youth Theatre group is a 30 mins drive, near my house are child gymnastic lessons). While a private school might offer all of these in the same place?

In my country they definitely would but private schools are not numerous and for the very rich... while here they seem to be across a broad range

I went to a tiny UK state (CofE) school in a village in the north of England myself and my children go to an independent school. There were no extra curricular activities at my school other than music lessons. Some people of course did other things like dance or martial arts etc outside of school arranged by parents.

At my childrens’ school they could do something different every night if they wished (they don’t btw!). I think generally independent provision of extra curricular activities is better than state, but of course this might not be always. It also saves time if they can be done on site straight after school. However you can of course arrange separately yourself though that will depend on area. In London you can do almost anything.

I think it will depend on the school.

My children are at private secondary day school. There is loads of sport, drama, orchestra/choir stuff and after school clubs for different interests (art, film, chess, etc) that is free or nearly free. This would include DofE and Cadets. Things like a weekend camp for a £10 food contribution and all the kit lent out by school. Pre-covid, all sports matches away to other schools is also free. (Well not free - it's obviously factored in to the fees!)

There is also a lot more of this kind of thing readily available vs local state schools.

Private music lessons are similar price or bit more than out of school. Dance classes and extra swimming you also have to pay for (not sure how much, my children don't do them).

School trips in term time (day or half day type stuff) is generally free. School trips in holidays (exchanges, ski trips, sports tours etc) paid for and seem a similar cost to local state school equivalents.

@Smartiepants79 @Milkywaysky thanks!
I guess there is indeed a lot of variance in the U.K.. which is what surprised me. Looks like area dependent research is needed
I'll admit that my musings aren't that idle because I'm looking into areas in which to buy a house... lots of choice due to WFH (my industry had a lot of that even pre-Covid and is likely to remain that way). Living in an area with lots going on outside school would probably be the better option than banking on private school .. . of course as mentioned the distance and time to ferry kids around etc also needs to be considered

@LtGreggs that sounds very interesting - what area do you live in if you don't mind my asking?

It depends. As a rule, private schools will offer more extra curricular activities, but whether or not that's attractive to you might depend on factors such as whether you have to pay for them, whether your child will actually make use of them, what kind of out-of-school opportunities there are near you, and whether you have a lifestyle that's suitable for ferrying children to other activities (if ferrying is required). For us, the extra curricular stuff is really worth it because the DC choose to take part in lots, it's all included in the fees (except individual music lessons), there's not much on very near us out of school, we have crap public transport, and our working lives don't make it terribly easy or desirable to ferry them around.

One other thing to bear in mind is the amount of curricular enrichment, not just extra curricular. The DC do really good music and drama plus swimming and hours of sport as part of compulsory lessons, which means they would get a good amount of this stuff even if they didn't do any extra curricular at all.

Sorry I was genuinely going to add more and then my pizza arrived!!!!

Our local private offers the wrap around care as part of the school day whereas state you have to pay. Private offers more options like climbing, local one has its own pool and climbing wall etc than local comp. More languages offered at private.

Eldest daughter went through state and took part in;
Fencing
Sailing
Drama
Choir
School Council, debating and Youth Parliament
Additional A level in yr 11
Numerous trips and residentials.

Youngest went to public school and only really did dance. Very good dance. Lots of it, but only dance. Seasonal events like the house drama, house singing annual cross country and cold water swimming every morning, but mostly dance.

Usually, it’s available in both state and independent, for those who want to avail themselves of opportunities.

@TheLastLotus the school is Dollar Academy in central Scotland.

Pretty much everything they do at school you could in theory do outside school instead - but it would involve immensely more ferrying about (it's not big city public transport land up here) and would be v difficult with two full-time working parents.

School based extra curriculars are fine for a superficial introduction to the activity, but unless you happen to get very lucky and the school is also a haven for that activity a child dedicated to the activity will soon exceed the school extra-curricular.

So yes, there might be a tiddy-winks team, but if your child is good, they'll soon need and want to be playing with other dedicated tiddly-winks players and not just their school mates who are doing it 'cos the school offers it. If any of the extra-curriculars become their passion, you'll be going outside anyway, or denying the opportunity.

It also means that the extra-curriculars are all done with the same people as the school, which many kids dislike - and of course others like especially if they're the big fish.

If you have the money for private school, there's no shortage of extra-curricular activities available anywhere there's a private school I'd say, I don't fully get the ferrying thing, that can be outsourced cheaper than private school for everything. Extra-curriculars alone are not a reason to choose private school I'd say.

I think that's perhaps true if your DC are at a really high level in a particular activity, but if they just like taking part then a school with lots of activities (state or private) can be great. At the moment, each week DS is doing swimming, PE, a couple of hours of cricket, a couple of hours of athletics, playing in a couple of ensembles, singing in a choir and taking part in a debating club. Some of this is curricular time, some of it is extra curricular. None of these activities (except perhaps the orchestra) are things that he'd probably want to actually join an external club to do - and he's not so good at any of them that he's likely to outgrow the school provision - but he just really enjoys them. And although we probably could find at least some of these activities locally, it certainly would involve ferrying - our nearest towns are at least a 15 minute drive away and we don't have much public transport. I don't know, maybe we're lazy or disorganised, but frankly there's a huge appeal in us coming home from work/school, knowing that the kids have already done a really balanced mix of activities, and that we can get on with doing homework, chilling out, cooking the dinner or whatever without having to head out again. This doesn't have to be a private/state thing of course, but some schools (state and private) do seem to have more going on than others. Also, the majority of the kids at school seem to do lots of activities, so there's no 'not cool' pressure not to join in, which friends at some other schools have talked about.

At my DC’s schools the extra curriculars were/are a compulsory part of the curriculum and included in the fees.

My dc have been in state and private schools and there were some differences.

The infant school DD1 went to had some great activities after school and in school. She did cooking at age 6 and enjoyed a gym club. She did swimming, dance and brownies outside school. In state junior school there were only sports clubs and she didn’t want cross country but did netball when it was offered in y6. She kept going with brownies and swimming but added orchestra at school and at the county music centre. Plus a choir so was always very busy.

DD2 started at a local private school. It was great in EY but was far too small to offer anything meaningful at all in terms of music and sport. The state schools were better in many respects.

DD2 eventually went to a top boarding prep where lots of activities were included after school but if an external provider came in, you paid. She did loads of dance externally and judo plus other activities In school for fun. Overall the best prep offered the most in school. Sporty, arty and musical children were very well catered for.

At senior school DDs did a lot. Both did drama and choirs and DD1 carried on learning musical instruments. Loads of sport if you wanted it. Loads of drama and music too. DD1 did MUN, Young Enterprise, and lots of things I’ve forgotten. Both my DDs liked to be busy.

As a governor of a state secondary modern I know they did so much more at a much higher standard than I ever saw in that school. The grammars were much better but they were very big so there was no guarantee of anything as clubs and activities were over subscribed.

Therefore I think they are all different. Expensive preps and boarding schools have a lot and run of the mill smaller day schools don’t have as much. If you pay top £, you do get a lot.

DS’s private school offers a variety of extra curricular activities but they are part of the school day, so once lessons are over they have an hour of extra curricular activities. There is a choice of what you can do but you must do something. Most of these activities are included in the fees but some, like music lessons, have an extra charge.

This usually explains why Private schools can have longer days. The school bus at DS’s school picks up at 5.00pm

It also depends on what your DC want to do as the private school activities tend to be quite niche. Lots of rugby and hockey but less in the way of kickboxing for example. I would also say that if you are serious about a particular activity even at private school you end up doing extra outside school eg county training for sport. In our local private day schools there is also an ethos of extra activities to get ahead at school. So Saturday drama clubs to get a drama scholarship or rugby at a club on Sundays to get into best rugby teams at school. At one of my DC’s schools, the first teams for sport were picked, not on merit, but based on who also attended a club outside school.

At our senior school no one was coached externally for the teams. It’s very different when the ethos is boarding. Even day pupils would do the coaching sessions in school. They didn’t hand out sports scholarships from y7. Y9 scholarships allowed all existing dc and new applicants to apply.

Dc did do other sports externally but as day pupils. So gymnastics and other specialised sports like horse riding, rowing, athletics and a few others were undertaken.

Schools compete for sports scholars too. They like having uk representatives amongst their pupils and alumni. They actively encourage applications from the ultra talented.