School clubs

[manyhatson]

What sort of after-school (or before school) clubs you have at your school?

My DD will be in Yr2 of a state primary school next school year and I am thinking ahead a bit so I can start to plan my working hours etc. Next term's list hasn't been issued yet but here's the list of this school year's clubs for Year 2 including those run by the school (free) and those run externally (paid for).

Below is THIS year's list for example:

Ballet (paid)
Tap (paid - not sure this is running next year)
Tri Golf = (paid)
Chelsea Football (paid)
French Club (paid)
Library Club (free)
Country dancing (free I think)
Until recently we had SCL Club Energy (paid) but that stopped due to lack of interest.

What do you think of this selection...? It seems very sparse to me - there's no gymnastics, rounders, or general sports clubs run by the school. There's no cooking, sewing, chess, drama, or general music clubs either. And the majority of clubs are paid for. As for the free ones, I'm not sure on 'Library Club' but as far as I know, it's just a chance for the kids to use the library after school with a teacher present - something they do in the school day anyway. And I'm not sure Country Dancing is a free class but I'm presuming so. They have 'Infant Choir' during a lunch hour so I've left that out of this list.

How do we compare to your school's offering...? I think ours is quite poor.

Silly question potential alert** Jelliebellie - what on earth is 'mouse club'.

I lead a parent run club.

Before starting the club ,I had to do a risk assessment, write an aims and method statement. Talk to Head Teacher about what , why and how. Source the equipment the club needs. Be CRB checked. Get a first aid qualification. Draft letters and permission forms, to be approved by HT before they go out.

On going, I have to maintain the equipment, transport it to school ( and back again) on club day. Liaise with school office about which children are doing club this term and getting permission forms back from parents. Collect KS1 children from class. check all children have been collected / dismissed in line with their permission form at end of club. Oh, and teach the skill this club is all about.

This summer term (the clubs change termly, though some are year-round), the clubs on offer are :

Gymnastics (Y1 & Y2), free
Athletics (KS2), free
Gardening club (KS2), free
Multi Skills (Y2, invitation only), free
Runaround Kids (KS2), paid for
Violin (Y5 & Y6, invitation only), free but £20 deposit for violin
Tennis (KS2), paid for
Eco-club (KS2), free
Dance (KS1 & KS2), paid for
Football run by local football club (KS2), paid for
Runaround Kids (KS1), paid for
Cricket (KS2), free

This is in a 415 pupil school, with two school halls, a very large field, and a playground that can all be used for after school clubs. I know the local schools with less pupils and less grounds run far fewer after school clubs.

There are 8 different teachers running clubs this term, one being the HT. other terms, other teachers run different clubs. I've realised what a huge choice of clubs this school has compared to most!

In other terms, there is a choir that is run, ocarina club, recorder club, art club, musical theatre club, netball club, maths skills club, computer club, fencing club, sewing club, crumbs, I can't even remember them all off the top of my head!

we have a variety of clubs, but not that many, they depend on the goodwill of a teacher being prepared to give up their time. List would be about the same as yours, the clubs change through the year.
Most of ours are aimed at Y3 and above, with a couple open to younger ones. The thing that surprised me most about your clubs was how many were paid! We pay a small amount for some (cooking club for ingredients) and there are occasionally some special sports or computer ones run by outsiders that are paid, but most are by teachers.

My kids were too tired for clubs in reception and Y1 really. My ds does like his football, so I am very pleased we have a consistent football club that runs all year round. Would love to have a proper ballet club running form school, then I wouldn't have to pay for saturday morning ballet.

We are 1 form antry and only have one hall, which does limit it a bit

Goodwill of the teacher for free clubs, cooking and sewing require resources.
Plus it is very irritating to have a child application by a parent when the child has no interest in the subject, doesn't want to be there and can be disruptive as a consequence. The 5 year old in chess club is one memorable incident.
I tend to know which ones those are by chatting with the children first about what they want from the club before I shortlist.
I run two clubs, there are usually 3:1 applicants per place. Both of mine are from Y2 up and we have two other free clubs for Y2 upwards and three you have to pay for.

That first list was just the summer term ones. Yes, a few are paid for, but the football is only £3.50 a lesson, despite being run by an outside club. The dance one is £3.00 a session, and is run by a local award winning dance school, the Tennis is £3.00 a session, run by an outside group, from the tennis club on the other side of town. Runaround Kids is paid for too, but that is also run by an outside group. All the free ones are run by teachers. No parent run groups.

Honestly, though there are some paid for clubs, the football club is £1.50 less than the Saturday one run by the same football club at their ground, the dance one is less than classes outside of school, and the tennis one is significantly cheaper.

I would rather pay £3.50 a session (a 90 minute session, too) for my DS's to do football training, than £5 a session and transport to the football ground!

Ah, in our school, on club letters day, the letters for the clubs are put on a table, and the DC take the letters for the clubs they would like to do. Not parent choice!

Definitely not parent choice, says the person whose DC only do one club on the same day, necessitating a 3pm pick up for one DC and waiting around until 3.45/4.00/4.15pm every day except Thursday...

Thanks again for your interesting comments. I find MN to be the best place to get straw poll info like this. So useful.

However, I'd like to clarify something as there are a few people here who I think have the wrong end of the stick and have misjudged my OP. Perhaps I didn't think carefully enough about the detail of what I said but let me set the record straight.

• I'm a stay at home mum who is working currently 5 hours a week when my DS is at preschool.
• I do the school run every day at the beginning and the end of the day.
• DD likes to go to clubs.
• when she's at a school club til 4.30 it gives me another 2 HOURS IN MY DAY. This works brilliantly for me, my DS and my housework (and indirectly my paid work) so I like to encourage her to go to clubs where she's interested. We have loads of clubs on offer at our school but I was wondering what others people have out of interest*.
• I wasn't complaining
• I don't think I was being unrealistic, just looking for comparison
• I'm not looking for free childcare (and if I was, so what??)
• I think teachers are marvelous
• I can't volunteer to help with clubs at the moment because of my own family logistics.