Son school clubs cancelled

[nicholab]

Cross, why do they cancel the photography club at my son’s school when he was getting into it?  He got a DSLR for Christmas.  But they never cancelled the rugby or football club/team?

[3s-gtech]

Sometimes/usually(?), the PE staff are contracted to run sports clubs - it’s part of their job.

Other clubs are mostly voluntary and that member of staff may have left/died/become allergic to photos/decided they hate giving up their time.

[nicholab]

It just frustrating that the knuckle draggers  clubs get such priority when that not him.

[3s-gtech]

It’s not necessarily priority, just mandated staffing. Schools are generally required to provide extra-curricular sport, but not other activities. There’s a list of reasons why that’s the case - but physical activity is a universal need for a healthy lifestyle.

[Syman_a]

When i ran our coding club, only about 10 of 30 children were there for the club. The rest were there because it was cheaper than the third party afterschool provision. So essentially ended up baby sitting for 20 uninterested children taking my time from those that were engaged.

 

So I stopped doing it. I was unpaid at the time, got offered payment to continue, but declined.

[Primus]

On 24/01/2026 at 22:50, nicholab said:

It just frustrating that the knuckle draggers  clubs get such priority when that not him.

This really isn't a good look - it's fine to be frustrated at the situation but calling other children knuckle draggers is unacceptable.

[mthomas08]

Yes it can be frustrating but clubs are managed by volunteers.

 

We've started doing a lot of clubs in the last 9 or so months. Staff constantly being asked if they want to do it. They push out the information and advertise to the kids.

 

Numbers need to be good, otherwise it's deemed pointless.

Requires that person to keep running it - the tricky part. What if they leave? What if their circumstances change?

 

School clubs are voluntary. Ask the school and you'll probably get an honest answer.

[TechMonkey]

It can also be a taster thing.  One term of photography, one of screen printing, another of pottery.  Gives the pupils a taste of lots of things rather than dragging one thing out over a year.

[Rob_D]

When you think about how ubiquitous school sports days are vs other subject days and the fact that sport is one of only (two?) things to have dedicated slots in the major news programs, it's clear that sport (either doing or watching) is a pretty massive national priority and still considered the default form of "free time activity". (and it's good for you, so that's probably no bad thing)

 

Today's adult population is still dominated by people who remember going out for a quick kick about with their mates every evening (whether they liked football or not). I wonder how/if it's going to change over the next few decades as people from generations who grew up after kids stopped doing this start to become the majority.

[Andrew_C]

I loath "organised sport" and I blame school for it...

[Davit2005]

Got to think how many times IT support have been asked to run either lunchtime/atfer school clubs. Whilst some might enjoy and think nothing of it it should not be assumed someone will jus do it. Even having spent 7 years volunteering in scouts I would defo have an issue with jus expected to do it.

 

Volunteering is jus that, volunteering is like charity.

 

 

[Roberto]

16 minutes ago, Davit2005 said:

Got to think how many times IT support have been asked to run either lunchtime/atfer school clubs. Whilst some might enjoy and think nothing of it it should not be assumed someone will jus do it. Even having spent 7 years volunteering in scouts I would defo have an issue with jus expected to do it.

 

Volunteering is jus that, volunteering is like charity.

 

 

I volunteer for my church to help with what is essentially after-school clubs there. I enjoy it precisely because it's a change of pace from what I've been doing all day at work.

 

I also help out with tech issues - in many ways the problems are not dissimilar from what I see here from small primaries with modest needs.

 

I'd hate feeling constrained or obligated by these volunteering efforts, in both the above cases I'm not the only one doing it, it managed without me before I started and will manage without me if I stop, so it feels like volunteering rather than something I'm pressured into.

[nicholab]

He attends an organised sport, Ju-jitsu, but the PE department never does this type of sport.  He also had swimming lessons and gymnastics lessons previously.  

[DalekSec]

If he enjoys photography still, there are bound to be clubs around that will take him, if not take him out yourself, go for walks etc to get pics.

 

Also not a fan of the term 'knuckle dragger', football is the most popular sport in the world and has way more interest / funding than photography so it's easy to see why it continues and other clubs die off. 

 

If it's not a 'normal' club there is always a chance of it being canceled, i wouldn't classed Photography as one of the big ones. (as much as i value it as a art form!)

[Roberto]

24 minutes ago, nicholab said:

He attends an organised sport, Ju-jitsu

 

Then you should absolutely know better than to throw terms like "Knuckle-dragger" around. It's unnecessary and does nothing to advance your 'case'

[Rob_D]

15 minutes ago, DalekSec said:

If it's not a 'normal' club there is always a chance of it being canceled

What would you consider a "normal" non-sport club? The most mainstream/popular I can think of are drama, dance and band/music.

[DalekSec]

5 minutes ago, Rob_D said:

What would you consider a "normal" non-sport club? The most mainstream/popular I can think of are drama, dance and band/music.

 

Art, Drama and Music are the top 3 IMO.

My Daughter is going to Brownies (She did do Gym but got bored as her best friend wasnt there...), My son will be going to cricket club the moment he can hold a bat!

[nicholab]

He is taking part in extra Darma and Orchestra.  But the photography club was something he was personally enjoying and had drive and something that was not a phone. 

 

Based on the most popular sport there should be a football, cricket, hockey, tennis, and volleyball club at every school.  Why is there only a football club?

[pete]

^ It could be the kids haven't asked.  Or they did ask, the teacher canvassed for who would be interested and not enough kids responded.

 

Our schools play against other schools in football, cricket, netball, hockey, athletics, swimming, rounders, tennis in the summer, golf and other things I'm probably missing because it's part of the role for PE and (even taking that expectation into account) the teachers go above and beyond. 

 

But the majority of non-sporting clubs and activities are kept running by the goodwill of 1-2 people:

• The girls rugby club was linked to a specific teacher who had the time, expertise and enthusiasm to run it.  They're retired now and so is the club (unless they come back for a bit of temporary supply work and run some impromptu games at lunchtime). 
• The 40K club spent some time in the wilderness after a teacher left but has now found a home with a physics teacher. 
• The sailing club closed because circumstances changed for the people involved (me and another colleague) and we couldn't afford 5 hours on a Tuesday (club ran from 4pm, I got home circa 9pm) every week.  No-one at the school else was willing to step up to take over (which is not unreasonable - 5hrs is a lot), the club closed.

 

[hardtailstar]

On 24/01/2026 at 22:50, nicholab said:

It just frustrating that the knuckle draggers  clubs get such priority when that not him.

 

As a knuckle dragger myself I could say something about photography being for nerds/geeks but I wont as I enjoy it too.

 

After school clubs are run by numbers and teachers time as others have said.

 

If he's enjoying it so much then get him and his fellow club members to meet up after school taking photos in your local area. 

 

Photography is something that can be done by one or more. He'd probably learn 5x more doing photography for himself by trial and error. He will also have more free reign on what he wants to do.