Don't extend the school day
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
By Debbie Chalmers, a nursery nurse who also runs the Primary Theatre Workshop in Girton, Cambridge The home/school group at the primary school my four children attend wants to extend the school day by offering its pupils short sessions in art, music, dance, science and sport. However, we already have a thriving after-school club in the school as well as other clubs offered by school staff.
The home/school group at the primary school my four children attend wants to extend the school day by offering its pupils short sessions in art, music, dance, science and sport. However, we already have a thriving after-school club in the school as well as other clubs offered by school staff.
Many parents have chosen to take our children to clubs and classes in other places outside of school because we believe it is important for them to develop the confidence to make new friends and to learn to work in mixed age groups with other adults in different environments. It is not ideal for children to have to spend all their leisure time in the same building with the same peer group that they work alongside each day in the classroom.
These proposed clubs would change frequently and be 'tasters' of activities for children to experience each half-term. But dance, music and sport must be chosen and pursued conscientiously from a young age, which teaches children commitment and loyalty. If anything, such tasters should be offered as part of the normal curriculum within school hours.
Those suggesting the idea, unsurprisingly, have only one school-age child.
For some of us parents the logistics could prove a nightmare - collect one child at 3.15pm, and one at 3.30pm, then another stays until 4pm, while another returns at 4.15pm and is collected at 5pm... Either trying to do this or refusing to allow the children to join the clubs could create more trauma within the family. In contrast, children's attendance at outside clubs evolves more gradually and changes infrequently.
I run the children's theatre company for the village, where there are already many local dance schools, music classes and sporting clubs, along with holiday workshops and classes. But if the schools 'hoover up' our potential clients, we will struggle to survive.
And when the home/school group ask us whether we would like to run these sessions in school instead of the groups that we run successfully already, will they be surprised when we say no?
