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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Extra curricular activities in secondary

30 replies

upsideup · 30/03/2018 10:04

Eldest dd is starting secondary in september, at the moment she is doing 14 hours of extra curricular activities every week.

Did anyone's DC manage to keep on top of school and their out of school activities? Or did the struggle?

OP posts:
foundoutyet · 30/03/2018 20:18

Depends on how keen child is. dc3 spends about 11-12 hours on sport +plays 2 instruments. But she would NOT want to stop any of it. Does mean homework (and eating ) could happen in the car.

Wh0KnowsWhereTheT1meG0es · 30/03/2018 20:58

Yes to the social aspect, my DCs did not go to the same secondary as their primary school friends but still see them at their various activities and that is important to them. Homework can be a juggle but they both go to homework club when they can which helps. I also find that they sornd relatively little time on screens because they are busy with other stuff.

I also agree that another problem is the growing commitment needed for the sports etc as they progress which leads to clashes, sometimes also clashes with school concerts, rehearsals, sports fixtures which tend to be after school/evening unlike the majority of primary school things. I am forever it seems weighing up whether to miss training in one sport for a fixture in another or similar.

DailyWailEatsSnails · 30/03/2018 22:09

DD's yr group, the girls who got on final list for head Girl both had a track record of lots of ex-currics. I can see why. Some kids do keep it up.

Just being an extra in the school musical, along with occasional sport/ revision / school support/ DoE planning session, DD did up to 13 hrs/week of ex-Cs. Adds up fast.

TabbyTigger · 30/03/2018 23:51

It definitely depends on the child - let her decide choice how much she keeps up. She may lose interest and find new priorities, or decide she does want to invest all her spare time.

My DS18 is now at a conservatoire studying contemporary dance, so obviously maintained around 20 hours of dance a week, even through A levels. He managed to get all his homework done through a mix of in his frees, and around his dance classes. He didn’t do any other activities though, and crammed a lot of his dance hours on weekends.

DD12 is following in his footsteps - does dance six days a week, as well as trampolining, school music ensembles (and lessons, but they’re in school time), and being part of school’s netball team. She’s only year 8 so time will tell how much she keeps up!

DD14 (year 9) is sporty but has not developed the same degree of commitment to one sport - she just on the school netball and football teams, and does hockey locally on Sundays for about 3 hours if there’s a fixture (just 90 minutes if not). She also volunteers at Brownies and does music ensembles. You may find DD loosens her commitment to one area and branches out to lots of hobbies and activities.

It’s manageable if she wants it to be - if it starts affecting her energy levels and school work, and she loses interest in anything, then encourage her to drop activities. I’ve had to force DD12 to give up activities before by making her choose (ie dance or gymnastics, trampolining or Brownies when she was younger).

TabbyTigger · 30/03/2018 23:55

I suppose if you added all the hours DD12 does 20 hours of dance, 1.5-3 hours of netball, 2 hours of music ensembles, and 2 hours of trampolining altogether. So around 25 hours a week. DD14 does 1.5-3 hours of hockey, 1.5-3 hours of netball, 1.5-3 hours of football, 1.5 hours at Brownies and 2 hours of music ensembles, so between 8 and 12.5 hours a week. I don’t think she could take on much more, and don’t think DD12 needs to cut down any more. It’s definitely just dependent on the child!

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