afterschool activities your views pls

[ednamode]

Hi everyone

My childs jnr school provides very little in the way of after school activities for the children in year 6. Generally it is football but many children including the majority of girls do not want to do football,however:
1)an art class has now started however the school was not expecting the high level of interest so names have been chosen out of a hat and we will see how it proceeds from there. Things often are started then stop after a term.
2)They have now started a netball and a gardening club both on the same day so children cannot go to both. I have complained and i have been told that teachers do not get paid for this.

It would appear that the children are interested but their enthusiasm is not shared
by the staff.
Can you advise the experiences you have in your school. Am i being unfair by expecting more from my daughters professionals?

You are being unrealistic. It is not the school's responsibility to provide after-school clubs.

Could any other organisations, franchises, parents be encouraged to start some up?

hi pixie
thank you for replying.

Hi pointydog and everyone
I should have pointed out that the parents are not adverse to paying for clubs. however they also have stopped unexpectedly, tutors have not turned up unexpectedly etc etc etc.
so your response now raises the question.
If i decided to take ths responsibility on myself where can i get advice?

You should speak to the head in the first instance.

I run an after-school club at a local primary school. I volunteer my time to do this, and it's very irritating when pupils decide not to show up for whatever reason. That's probably why some cubs do stop after half a term - many children cannot be bothered to commit, a club of 1 child is no fun for anyone, trust me!
I teach at a secondary school, so it's my own time, for which I do not get paid. I run a lunchtime club where I work, but often children just want to relax with their mates.
I do think you are being unfair, but I can understand it's annoying when yours are the children who do commit.

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect children to choose betwene clubs on same day/time nor to select by lottery. I believe staff at dc prpe are expected to do so many hours extra curricular/duty as part of their contracts but that is probably not generally applicable and some seem to do more than others.

I can completely see why teachers may not want to run after school clubs, but I don't see why schools can't employ people to run clubs after school. Or get interested parents to volunteer. These clubs could then be either free to all kids or the kids could pay a small contribution. It's worth talking to the head and / or the governing body about this. The governing body has responsiblity for the overall strategy of the school (e.g. what kind of school do we want to provide for our kids?) If they feel that kids should have access to after school activities, they can address this with the head.

hi Jet girl
Yes i am a reliable person and i endeavour to bring my child up in the same way. Like many reliable people i am over my head with activities that i am bound to do. However I shall make some enquiries as the children are enthusiastic and see if there are any freelancers who would commit without charging the earth.

many thanks for your reply
EM

oh i just wanted to point out in case i have given the wrong impression earlier, that i volunteer to assist the school. After i have completed my 2 self employed roles( I work approx 43 hours a week including some saturdays) I will also be seen clearing the shed sorting the jumble helping on the stands when one or other of the 2 PTA goups call, to raise money for the school and i do this as a single mother with no weekends off.

At the beginning of term, I wrote a cheque to the school for school dinners and games club and gymnastics.

I had a call from the school office, asking me to write three separate cheques because the after school cheques needed to be written to the teachers that took the classes as they pay them into their personal accounts.

I was quite shocked by this as I thought it was done voluntarily by the teachers to support the children and school funds.

Now I know why there are so many after school activities.

Interesting annapolly

I think this may be the way forward.

Are they school teachers? At my DC's school, activities run by the school teachers are free. Where someone from outside comes in, we pay. My DC do a mixture of the two.

how much would be reasonable do you think?

May I ask annapolly why you think teachers running extra-curricular activities should not receive the fee you're paying? You don't seem to mind paying for the activity from what you said.
Teachers are paid to teach, once school is over their time should be their own surely? And they do have work to mark and lessons to prepare for too.
If I do extra hours at work, I expect to be recompensed for them. (I am not a teacher)