Lack of extra-curricular activities at school

[underboardwalk]

I could do with your advice as I'm umming and ahhhing about whether to send in an email to my daughter's school. I will provide some context first.

I'm a class PTA rep, so I tend to do all the vocal work for my daughter's Reception class. She attends an 'outstanding' school, which is always oversubscribed, and it's generally a very good school. What's really, really lacking is the provision of extra-curricular activities/after school clubs. They have an external provider for their breakfast/after-school club, and an external sports club who provides limited classes - boys and girls football and multi-sports for Y1 upwards. And that's it. I assume they use their external after school provider as an umbrella for various activities, but in my opinion, that's not good enough.

There is absolutely no provision for reception year group. I know it's the summer term now and it's too late to get something in place, but the distinct lack of well-rounded extra-curricular activities is absolutely irking me.

I've done my research into other local schools in the area and their choice of activities is fantastic. Some have external providers for their BC/ASC and some sports clubs, AND also offer a wider range of activities in addition which include provision for reception children such as performing arts, ballet, gymnastics, Spanish, maths clubs, art clubs, etc. The list goes on.

Funnily enough, I saw a FB post over the weekend asking about extra-curricular activities from a parent whose child has been accepted into the school, and as much as I wanted to shout how bad their provision is, I stayed quiet.

Obviously I'm not going to pull my daughter out of the school, I love it for her and so does she. But I suppose, naively, I never thought of this element of her education and thought the after school club will be enough.

Should I put my head about the parapet and send an enquiry as to why there is such a lack of activities? Or am I just being a pain? I just feel that they know they're such a good school in terms of academic achievements, that they've overlooked this part. I also have other major irks with them - their website is lacking in information and really dull, and I feel it links back to them probably being arrogant enough that they feel they don't need to update it. I feel there are a whole load of things lacking in that school that could be improved easily enough. I want to bring it up with them but I don't want to be 'that woman' who complains!

My original query wasn't about not wanting to transport her around. My original query is why they have such a lack of activities. Kindly, I'm perfectly fine to transport her, and even take some of her friends on many occasions, so that's not the issue, it's just a fact I stated. Yes, of course it would be convenient, but that's not my bugbear. If I couldn't take her, then I would have brought it up long ago. I'm also not just talking about the few activities she goes to, I'm looking at it holistically.

There is a huge range of other activities that could be potentially on offer that the whole school is missing out on. Yes, again, I mentioned there's a lack of provision for reception kids but there's also a lack of after school clubs for the whole school community in comparison to other local schools in the area.

Please don't make this a personal attack.

This was in response to weekend clubs.

As this is so important to you, I’m not sure why your dc attends a school with such poor extracurricular provision. Has it changed significantly since you put the application in and accepted her place?

It's often not about being willing to volunteer. It's about being able to. Is it so difficult to understand that an individual school will have a staff that might be different to the one a few streets awayay? It might be a school where a lot of the staff have their own children they need to pick up from nursery or school at 4.30 pm or 5pm on some days. Running the club session, seeing your children out, tidying up, prepping for teaching next day - where will they magic up the time to be able to get from school to their own child's school or childcare which might not be in the same area as their place of work? Older staff might have caring responsibilities towards elderly parents.

Plenty of schools will have a culture of constant staff meetings and training after school - a couple of days a week. One school might have more children with SEN or behavioural difficulties so have more reason that teachers will be tied up phoning parents or have meetings with them after school.

Sometimes TAs will offer to run a club if they have a particular skill or interest, as they are less likely to be tied up at staff meetings or having to prep for next day/phone parents. But that's only if they have no caring responsibilities.

He's secondary school, but has also wondered the same, given its size and popularity.

As mentioned in my original post, it's not something I even considered at the time of applying.

Also, I was only intending to ask the question as I am a PTA class rep and there have been a lot of conversations and voiced disappointments that there are no clubs on offer (except wraparound care). So like me, they also bring their children to external providers.

I wasn't going to ask the school because I have a personal complaint. It was on behalf of being the rep for the class.

I didn't mention sports clubs. What about art clubs, science clubs, chess clubs, etc which only need classroom space?

I'm not really sure what's changed with parents' attitudes. When my kids were young, I saw it as my responsiblity to take them to sports clubs, swimming etc myself to provide them with hobbies and enrichment. They did a couple of extra curricular things in school, but there wasn't a lot on offer and I didn't expect there to be either. The school's job was to give my children an education according to the National Curriculum.

Now parents expect all state schools to run like private schools and give a similar offering as far as enrichment goes. Where has this expectation come from? OP has already implied that she thinks schools should offer it as it makes things easier for parents. So the whole thing basically comes down to whether you think schools should cater more to the childcare needs of fulltime working parents or not. Personally I can totally understand the need for wraparound care these days to be better than it is in some areas and some schools. But enrichment activities? No, I don't see that that is a school's job. They have a big enough job as it is.

But it's not a straight forward issue, OP. Some schools just simply DO NOT have the space to operate wraparound after school childcare, sports clubs, enrichment clubs, hold fundraising events, concerts, open evenings etc etc.

At my schoo, we have ONE hall. It isn't huge either. It also operates as the indoor PE lesson space, the home for Breakfast Club, assemblies, parent meeting space, staff training space, lunchtime dining for 4 year groups, phonics intervention groups, event space eg book fairs, concerts, after school enrichment clubs. Just ONE space. For all of those things. It isn't easy to timetable all that, I can assure you.

I think the rules have tightened up now. My own head has to pay one of our school staff to be a chaperone. Despite the external provider having DBS. Then there are the SEND children who have a one to one in school. If they want to attend an enrichment club with an external provider then it isn't the parent who pays, or the external provider. It is us as a school who has to provide member of school staff, and pay them to be there.

i wouldn’t see it as a negative that your dc’s school don’t offer any extra curricular activities to reception aged children. You clearly do. As it’s so important to you it’s a shame that you didn’t look into this before making your application and accepting their place.

It's not 'so important' to me. As I keep mentioning, it's something a lot of fellow parents of our class have been questioning. I did know this before applying and I love the school. It's a wonderful school in every other way, hence why we applied and my DD attends activities with external providers. I think it's just a complete shame that if I wasn't able to bring her to any of these (which she does miss out on a few sometimes if I've got meetings at 4pm and can't bring or pick her up), then she'd miss out. And there are probably many more pupils of the school that are missing out on clubs they may be interested in as they're not on offer.

External providers. There are plenty of them.

Some external providers are questionable. They're very hit and miss.

You mention classroom clubs. You seem to have forgotten about the need to keep the school clean too? At my primary we have a team of cleaners on site between 3pm and 5pm. They have to avoid cleaning the hall floor and any classrooms where enrichment activities are taking place until after it's finished and everything tidied away. Then it's a mad rush to get the area cleaned in time.
I mean, we run the clubs. For the kids' sake (not the parents', I hasten to add). But there are more and more demands on schools. More and more is foisted onto staff, squeezed into the school day. Regulations become stricter each year. It's becoming harder and harder.

And what I've come to realise is that no matter WHAT your offering is, there will always be at least one bugger who complains about some aspect of it.

ok so sort it out then, you can do all the organisation, research, assessing, form filling, rearrangement of furniture, room booking, extra cleaning, resource provision, first aid cover, recruitment, communications with home, planning, paperwork, costing, insurance, money collections, registration, etc.

You can do it just as easily as anyone else

Yes, @noshadowatnoon , it's easy, isn't it? 😉

Something else to consider is what happens when parents don't arrive to collect their child at the end of the club. It happens ALL the time. Parents saunter up the path with barely an apology. The external provider has long gone as they have to get to their next venue. So it's left for random school staff that are left on site to deal with the child, ring round parents etc. Those staff may need to get to a meeting, or to go home to collect their own child.

What will happen when the external provider is using a multi-use school space that has to be used as an emergency meeting space, or for a parent event that had to be changed last minute? External providers are then not happy if after school clubs have to be cancelled. Causes repercussions, hassle for school staff, parents, all round problem.

It can be done of course, but it's really not as simple and straight forward as you're making out, OP.

As I keep mentioning, it's something a lot of fellow parents of our class have been questioning

Do you know what, I cringe when I think of the things I used to assume about my children's school when they were young, before I worked in a primary myself. Once you've worked in one for a few years yourself you realise that most parents have absolutely NO CLUE about all the effort and hard work that goes on behind the scenes to try to give children the best experience they can. Honestly, some of the trivial things we've had parents complain about, you wouldn't believe. As for the "helpful" suggestions that come in sometimes to change how we operate. Maybe 10% of them give us pause for thought and sometimes we reflect and do change something. But most of the time, well.....it's probably spoken about in the staff room with an eye roll.....

YABU

My dc school does offer a range of ASC clubs which is less about the dc and more about people making money off parents with more money than sense.

If you want your dc to be good at something send them to a proper club, not an in school taster.

In reception I'd keep AS activities to a minimum though swimming is essential and then there's usually something that you might start young.

Does the PTA have a platform to communicate with school, or are they mainly about fundraising? If there’s an opportunity to raise this with the school within your PTA meetings, then yes do it. Frame it as representing some of the views of your fellow parents. Keep it brief and then follow up at the next meeting.

Some schools I have worked in have had a Parent Council separate to PTA. I don’t know if your school does, but if so, then that would be an appropriate forum to raise this. If you’re not on the Council yourself, you could ask a parent who is.

You could also become a governor? It’s a great role, will give you lots of insight into the schools priorities and will also be a chance to have an impact.

Some schools send out parent feedback forms. This may be infrequently, maybe even once a year. I take it your school hasn’t done this?

It may be worth managing your expectations of the school in general. Not all schools do everything well all of the time. No school is perfect - and a BC and AFC, along with regular sports clubs is an ok offer.

Your child has only been there six months, so you may not be seeing the full picture re extra curriculars.

I would hold back on mentioning the website. That makes your concerns look less credible. And also your talk about the school providing a good all round education. Just keep it brief and factual “feed back from parents is that we’d love more clubs”.

what do you think will change if you "raise it with the school" and then "follow it up"??

A couple of staff will suddenly realise that they do in fact have a couple of hours spare per week that can be sacrificed, which they hadn't noticed before? Well, great, that would possibly sort out the offer of one ASC.... which might not be for the age or activity that the OP wants anyway.

what do you think will change if you "raise it with the school" and then "follow it up"??

Given that I don’t know the OP’s school, I can’t possible answer that. But it will hopefully be noted and, hopefully, passed on. Maybe the school won’t start to run extra clubs, maybe they will. But better to mention it rather than not.

Ive taught in state primary for over ten years. My mum, my husband, my MIL, my SIL and more than half my friends are teachers. Different schools have different culturesu; i doubt anything will happen immediately if OP raises it, it’s a long game. But better than grumbling and not saying anything.

But as I said in my post, it’s worth managing expectations of the school in general. Not all schools do everything all of the time.

You can't really use classrooms. Teachers will still be working and preparing for the next day. The classrooms are their work space where their resources are.

The ASC will already have chess sets, arts stuff, maybe not science but ours do bits of baking and cake decoration.

Lots of paid providers the hours are so limited that they are really a side hustle to a main job or a part time income while at college or uni so probably aren't even available at 3pm.

I really don't see where you are going with this.

I'm not sure why you're getting a hard time, OP, it's perfectly fine to ask the head what the plans are in that regard. DC's school has really poor extracurricular provision- this is for 2 reasons: a) completely obsessed with SATs b) a relatively poor intake with limited money to pay for external clubs. They do try with the money they have but the total absence of any sports teams, choir or drama or music (and hardly any after school club places) is one of the reasons we're moving DC2 for juniors. I do think it's part of school life to get experience playing as a team for your school, putting on a show etc, and that this also provides a way for kids to excel who might struggle with academic work. In this school's case it has gone massively downhill since covid and a change of leadership.

I think every (?) teacher has to run 1 club a year at the school, for a term- 3.30-4.30 - but that often means it's not particularly skilled provision unless the staff member knows what they are doing.

Anyway, ask the head. See what they say.

And do you think forcing staff to do all that extra is helpful or constructive? That is roughly and extra 3 hours work a week to have a club open for one hour. How would you feel if your employer informed you tomorrow that you were going to do an extra 3 hours work a week "voluntarily" as of tomorrow?

I really don't know what people expect schools to do to increase the likelihood of after school clubs being possible? Sack all mothers and only employ single childless women or males?

@noshadowatnoon it's contracted paid hours- some are also TAs paid for the extra time. The school has a slightly shorter term which contracts staff for a longer day.

This is about op wanting school to fit around her work, nothing else