bob r

iTrader: (46)

What has it come to when you recieve letters from school asking for £££ for your kids to take parts in certain activities.
£3 for 1hr of football
£5.50 for 1hr of lacrosse
£4 for 1hr of Rugby
£45 a term for Brass band

Now my 2 sons already play football for local teams and I pay £270 for their subs so I wasn't happy when I got the news that school want money aswell. Last year the activities were free and my eldest was looking forward to playing for the school team this year, but now it's unlikely.
I've had words with the Head and school funding is the issue.
I appreciate that coaching costs but last year there were around 30 kids playing after school football with one coach [18yr old] so is this coach hoping to take home £90 or so for 1hrs work?

I would have thought sporting activities were free, to ecourage fitness/teamwork and school achievements etc.
Is this a common thing in other Primary schools?

The Zohan

Basketball - £ 2.00 per 45min session taught by a 18/19 y/o who has just passed a 1 day course.

Having newly qualified as a swimming teacher and i'll say no more than it took a lot more than one day to complete! you see the courses and details posted on various websites the costs and duration.

example in point taken off of a coaching website;
LEVEL 2 DODGEBALL QUALIFICATION
NORTHAMPTON
21st NOVEMBER
9AM-2PM
UPTON MEADOWS PRIMARY SCHOOL
THE COURSE COVERS THE FOLLOWING

* RULES OF THE GAME
* TACTICS AND PRACTISE
* HISTORY AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
* RULES TEST AND COACHING ASSESSMENT
£75 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

I could take the course and call myself a teacher and teach in schools never played dodge-ball in my life have seen the film though. so 9-2pm will teach me all i need to know to teach others...

The level 1 part is generic and is all about health and safety and child protection which you
have to have before doing the level two. I can take any of there courses and tbh i do believe that unless you can play/do a particular sport to a good level then you should not teach it.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Unfortunate..........can't you find the money? You'll regret it later if you don't

Very much doubt he'll be on much more than £6 an hour. Is the rest for premises/kit etc? Or for the caretaker to lock up afterwards etc?

Unsure, but I have a feeling it will be, sooner or later.

Hysteria1983

All I can assume is that the teachers are doing this out of school hours, so they need to get paid?

Leslie

Is this a State school? I think that sporting activities should be free of charge and I am not sure about the charges for the band either. All that could become very expensive at the end of a term.

Les

The Zohan

It is not teacher(s) in a lot of cases it is school leavers who have taken rudimentary classes in the sport often 1-2 day courses who are then qualified to teach it. These school leavers are usually employed by a company who promotes sports activities before and after school at a cost and separate from the school but using the schools facilities. Not much wrong with that other than the quality and ability of those who will teach the classes imho

Not too sure how much experience an 18 y/o has at controlling 22 or so 7 y/o's or their skill and ability at the sport they are teaching when you can qualify with no previous experience other than 7 hours instruction - i suppose it is pot luck!

My daughters first basketball lesson included taking the register and some stretching nothing else, she wasn't expecting to slam-dunk from day one but it sounds a little underwhelming TBH.

Miniman

iTrader: (2)

Our school doesn't run the school footie, we do (the parents). In fact I'm a coach (been one for several years for kids 5 years and up). However we are volunteers so don't get paid, but there are costs. Rental of the field, kit costs, playing strip costs. We're FA affiliated so we can play in competitions (again that costs), we need to pay insurance (cost). It's not £3 a week, but I'd say that if you have to pay a coach then that's probably about right.

I don't think the primary schools have a set agenda for sports other than those at the standard curriculum PE. And the days of teachers taking extra time out (after school/at weekend) are gone, again unless they are doing it voluntarily or being paid. Hence they have to get people in. If you don't like it, volunteer to run a club yourself (be that footie, music or something like cubs/brownies), I know all clubs round our way are always looking for willing helpers.

Our club pays for the basic FA coaching, but only a few have this, mostly we're just grateful to get someone willing to turn up each week - seems parents don't want to volunteer and are content for someone else to do it, even if they are not a football player themselves :-( A real club with properly qualified coaches would probably charge a lot more.

Mind you I've no doubt that a few of these sports clubs that run these courses manage to see their books balance into the black at the end of the year. But it's a business so I guess you have to respect that.

pslewis

Teachers are paid a vast amount these days and the budget needs to balance.

Also, gone are the days where Teachers give their time for free ...... I mean, come on, they work for 26 hours a week - have a heart!!!!

OH, yes, they also have 6 months 'rest'.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Fly fishing again Pete

Mark'sWRX

You really don't understand, do you?

Most teachers work 7 days a week (planning and marking at weekends) and spend half the holidays preparing classrooms and lesson plans.

You can't just turn up each morning and wing it: All lesson plans have to be laid out now.

My wife gets to work at 7.30am and gets home after 6pm (later if there has been a Management meeting/ Governers meeting or been teaching Netball - all unpaid extras).

Do you accept being verbally and physically abused at work every day as normal?

Sorry, OT, I know, but wind-up merchants like you really should know better.

If anyone was desperate enough to have your children, then maybe you would know what it was like in schools these days. Kids don't all do as their told, living in fear of the cane like they did in your day!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Pete, you ARE J R Hartley after all

And you've already hooked a big'un

hodgy0_2

most of our after school clubs are free tbh -- it is a brilliant school btw

it's all the rest that mounts -- I think we spend over £250 a month on various activities for our kids!!!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Who mentioned flyfishing?!

Tracey

I work in a primary school and organise the after school clubs programme for the year.

If a teacher volunteers to do a club, then it is FREE (as they give up their free time)
If we get Sport Coaches in then it generally costs £2.50 per session (1 hr) the company sets the price.

As the local After School Club closed recently, most parents are generally pleased that we offer so many clubs to which they use as childcare (the clubs are cheaper than childcare).

I do understand that clubs are expensive these days but it's what our parents want. If they didn't want it we wouldn't run them. I spend alot of time organising these but I do it for the children at the end of the day, as I know they enjoy them.

It's interesting to see how things vary from school to school.

When I was at school, our teachers ran the football and netball clubs FOC, strange how things change

bob r

iTrader: (46)

No it's not teachers it's coaches.....the same one we had last year and the year before.

Totally agree.

Your missing the point. This is school footy that has been played in schools for years and other than kit [which has probably been handed down for the past 10yrs] there is little to pay for.
That trophy cabinet in the reception area will only have old trophies in if things continue.

pslewis

My experience is that Teachers 'claim' to do 'extras' for free and then nag the Head to give them some TLR Payments (which remain for all time and are pensionable too!!).

And, as for lesson planning ..... once it's done once it gets wheeled out Term after Term after Term ......

26 hours directed time per week and 6 months off are the stone cold facts .... dress it up as you wish.

Miniman

iTrader: (2)

Possibly I misunderstand, but AFAIK Primary Schools don't have to teach anything bar PE and I'm sure you're not talking about being charged extra for a standard schoollesson. So it must be outside of PE (afterschool or on a weekend) and then I think you've just been lucky up until now that it's not been charged for. Most extra curricular activites are not free so they are probably just catching up with the 21st century.

For that charge though I would certainly ask to see decent playing strip (changed every couple of years) and things like proper footie competitions. We manage to fund school footie on that cost per week.

Turbo2

At the new parents' school introduction meeting, we were asked to donate a voluntary 20 quid per term for the school "Enrichment Fund" (enrichment for who? ). Multiply that by 30 kids per class and 3 terms per year, you are looking at potentially 1800 quid per year per class. That's an awful lot of crayons or whatever it is they expect to spend it on.

One of the mums at that meeting is also a teacher at another primary school in the area and couldn't believe what she was hearing. She doubts if it is even allowed!

pslewis

Donations are allowed.

You need to get details of the pay rises of the Teachers who are asking for these donations from parents who are probably subject to a pay freeze. Ask for the increments as well as the annual payrise (yes, Teachers get TWO payrises a year!).

urban

iTrader: (1)

I contribute to the school fund - its not much though approx £50 per term.
Only things I had to pay for then were some of the school trips, but it wasn't that often you were asked for money and even then it was only a couple of quid.
P7 school trip was a different matter though at several hundred pounds

Xx-IAN-xX

My eldest starts at senior school next September. Went to the open day yesterday , gotta say I was quite impressed.

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=21477

Turbo2

Blimey, you're well prepared!

Looks a bit like an airport terminal.

One thing to say about ours though is that our boy's teacher is extremely fit. I went through 15 years of education with nothing but old munters for teachers, yet he hits the jackpot with his first one and he isn't even old enough to appreciate it.

Xx-IAN-xX

.
They like the new starters to get settled in prior to them moving up so they offer loads of after school activities so they know their way around and get to know the teachers. Think this is a good idea as it can be daunting moving fromj a small primary school to a large senior school. Its meant to be one of the best sports academys around.
Did notice there were a lot of tastey young teachers as well

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Tell me about it, ours do allsorts, just about to cancel the guitar lessons as they never practice, what a wasdte of £130 a month ! my brother learnt with a plywood guitar and no lessons and he is a fantastic guitarist. Ours go to school on the bus, was £300 a term but now two go on the public bus and just the youngest on the direct school one which saves a few quid, three grand a year for all three to go on the private school bus.

Theatre clubs, football, hockey, trips, school holidays and my wife reckons ours dont do much compared to other kids, what do these others do, I think kids need chill time as well as "activities", I only did wrestling club at school, then went an PLAYED OUT which was free.