Feedback sought about after-school sports sessions

Tue 10 Apr 2018, 17:07

In response to people's comments the Community Centre has now arranged for a session to be provided for secondary school aged young people on Thursdays from 5-6pm, term time only in the main sports hall. As a trial, we will only charge £1 per person and the young people can decide what sport they want to play and we will set it up and let them get on with it (Jason will be watching through the window!). We find people this age prefer a more unstructured approach. Please tell your friends, spread the word - if it's popular we can continue it into the autumn term, and maybe over the summer holidays...

Fri 30 Mar 2018, 13:01

Sorry for the delay in replying about this. We have been trying to sort out how the Community Centre can best accommodate the secondary school children. What we are thinking (as after school club has already been advertised at 4-5pm), is that we put on an extra session, either on a Monday or a Thursday from 5-6pm for children of secondary school age, who could come and pay just £3 for the hour and play a sport together. They could decide what sport they want to play and we could set the hall up accordingly (e.g. basketball, football, hockey, volleyball, netball, pickleball, badminton). We could see how this goes in the summer term and if popular, continue it in the Autumn. Does anyone have a preference between Monday or Thursday and could your children encourage their friends to come?
I hope this helps.

Sun 18 Mar 2018, 12:46

i agree with susie that the timing isnt great for year 7 plus and they tend to have after school activities at school. It would be great to extend it to year 5 and 6.

Sun 18 Mar 2018, 12:43

Secondary school buses sometimes don't arrive back in Charlbury until 3.40pm, at which point many kids want to drop their stuff home, grab a snack and change before doing anything else, so perhaps timing is a little tight for those in years 7+?

Sun 18 Mar 2018, 11:42

My daughter and a couple of her friends in year 6 have been going to the Thursday session from 4-5 and they love it. It's a great way to squeeze in an hour of exercise for them and convenient because they just walk down from school.
Possible explanations for low uptake may be to do with the way the primary school after-school activities run, where you have to book them from the start of the term and pay in advance. So if they already have activities booked, it's hard to switch. Also, if kids are at school 3-4pm, they will have to walk down there which is fine for year 6's, maybe less for year 4/5. If parents are working, they might need wraparound activities until 5, so it's easier to do that all in one place (at school) than pick them up at 4, take them to the Community Centre and then pick them up again at 5. Could you maybe organise an adult to pick up a group from the school and walk them down? I'm sure there is lots of interest in sports for the kids, it's largely logistics that determine what people opt for.

Sun 18 Mar 2018, 09:55

Charlbury Community Centre has been offering after school sporting activities to children in years 6-9 this term. The take-up has not been high, so this needs tweaking. After Easter we intend to offer 3 sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4-5pm (dropping the Tuesdays) and increasing the age range to include children in School Years 4 upwards. In order to be able to play sports like basketball, volleyball, football, unihoc, netball we need a certain number of people there. The price is only £3 for the hour,so I don't think that's putting people off. Have any parents or young people out there got any thoughts about whether this will work and what else they would like to see? We will keep this club going for the whole of the summer term.
Please email me privately if you prefer, so as not to clog up the forum.