is it fair for a school to run expensive dinner time clubs?

artichoke

Hi all

My 2 children have come home from primary school with letters about a Soccer Schools UK dinner time club that starts in june. It costs £17.50 for which they get professional football coaching from the local celebrity club for 45 minutes on a wednesday lunch time for 7 weeks.

The course will run 6 times and they get medals for each stage. So that is £17.50 x 6 per child for the year.

My children both love football and already do football training in the village so they want to attend this.

BUT i dont think it is fair to run an expensive club in dinner time, when those who are not taking part will be able to see those who are taking part.

I would not object if it was an after school club and my kids although upset they can not take part would not have to watch their friends getting good coaching.

What do you all think? Is this common practice in primary schools to run these expensive lunch time clubs? My kids are in year 1 so i dont have much experience of primary schools yet!

The school is a small village school - and if the club gets full that means one third of the school will be getting this coaching....

I have asked other parents whose kids play football in the village team and they have said they feel they HAVE to say yes or there kids will feel left out.....

but i don't think the head should have put us in this position....

should i make my views known to the head??

art

galvanizersbaby

artichoke wrote: »

Hi all

My 2 children have come home from primary school with letters about a Soccer Schools UK dinner time club that starts in june. It costs £17.50 for which they get professional football coaching from the local celebrity club for 45 minutes on a wednesday lunch time for 7 weeks.

The course will run 6 times and they get medals for each stage. So that is £17.50 x 6 per child for the year.

My children both love football and already do football training in the village so they want to attend this.

BUT i dont think it is fair to run an expensive club in dinner time, when those who are not taking part will be able to see those who are taking part.

I would not object if it was an after school club and my kids although upset they can not take part would not have to watch their friends getting good coaching.

What do you all think? Is this common practice in primary schools to run these expensive lunch time clubs? My kids are in year 1 so i dont have much experience of primary schools yet!

The school is a small village school - and if the club gets full that means one third of the school will be getting this coaching....

I have asked other parents whose kids play football in the village team and they have said they feel they HAVE to say yes or there kids will feel left out.....

but i don't think the head should have put us in this position....

should i make my views known to the head??

art

My children are in Years 1 and 2 of primary school and I have never known a lunchtime club of any sort - only after school clubs (some of which you have to pay for)

To be honest at our school they only get a 40 min lunchbreak as far as I'm aware so I doubt there would be time for anything other than eating lunch and a quick run around in the playground!

JodyBPM

Honestly, I think children need to learn that they can't always have what they want. It's a sad reality of life. If you feel that you can't afford it/don't wish to spend the money on it, then explain that to them. And remind them that they are already lucky enough to do the football training that they already do.

I don't think that ALL children should be denied the opportunity of doing things, just because some children (for whatever reason) may not be able to participate.

julie03

when will your children eat that day, as it will be important to eat to sustain them for the afternoon of education they get that day

and i dont think you should pay for any clubs during school hours

lucylucky

I think it is great that there is that opportunity being offered.
As they are bringing someone in, and presumably paying for it, then it seems not unreasonable to charge less than £3 to attend.

It would have been nice for the head to say it might be considered and sought views from parents

skipsmum

DSs school run this, however each year group is offered 1 or 2 6 week blocks so with 2 children you would pay 2 or 4 lots of £17.50.
There are lots of lunchtime clubs including free football.
We do pay for DS to do the soccer as he has various mobility problems and struggles to keep up with his peer group - he joins a lower year group for soccer. Its been great, the tuition is fantastic and he has come on a long way.
However, the kids don't have to do it, and there is free football coaching in lunch and after school clubs that suits most of them.

Julie3, the kids that do the soccer take packed lunches that day and eat 15 minutes before lunch time starts. There are only 15 kids in each year group so anything missed can be caught up quite easily.

shellsuit

I don't know of a school that runs them during school hours (lunch time)

After school, Yes, my children attended a few of them.

If they are 45 minutes long, when do they get to eat, and is 15 minutes enough to either eat and run around for 45 minutes, or run around for 45 minutes, eat, then go straight back to class?

Hasn't been thought out very well has it?

bylromarha

I wouldn't say it's common practice to run paid clubs at lunchtime, but paid clubs are becoming more and more used in school I've noted.

When I used to teach full time, I ran a recorder group during lunch time for Key Stage 1. I charged...nothing! Other staff used to run after school sports clubs for free too.

However, every club has a limit of the amount of kids they can take. Your children will not be in the minority as a lunch time club will be unable to take large numbers of kids and your OP shows that 2 thirds of the school will not be taking part. Your kids will be fine if you decide not to let them participate.

lucylucky

Apart from the fact that life is not fair, and it is not fair to most of us, deal with it, then I assume there is time to eat and play.

Otherwise the whole affair would be somewhat impractical.

Courgette

Hang on, £17.50 per session? And lunch is only 45 mins so presumably each session will be about 30 mins? Leaving out the moral issues of paying for stuff during the school day, surely that's absolutely ridiculous! £3 for swimming lessons is one thing, £105 for about 3 hours of football is insane :eek:

galvanizersbaby

Courgette wrote: »

Hang on, £17.50 per session? And lunch is only 45 mins so presumably each session will be about 30 mins? Leaving out the moral issues of paying for stuff during the school day, surely that's absolutely ridiculous! £3 for swimming lessons is one thing, £105 for about 3 hours of football is insane :eek:

Is lunch about 45 mins at all primary schools? - I know it is at my children's but thought perhaps that this particular school had longer for lunch?

OP's children are in Year 1 which in our school cover the 5-6 years age group - I think bolting your lunch and then running around playing footie for 30 mins sounds less than desirable to me - however DS probably does this every day out of choice