If your child’s school seems to be missing a few activities off the club list, and you’re watching your kids suffer with boredom at home, it’s time to throw a few ideas onto the table at the next parent-teacher association (PTA) meeting.
It’s probably not just your kids who want to have a few more things to do! And the school they attend will have ten times the amount of facilities you do – all you have to do is put a plan together to make it happen!
See Who’s Interested
This is the first thing to determine. Your kids might want to join a club, but how many other kids in their school want the same thing? Because without a marked interest in the activity you plan to offer, the school probably won’t funnel any resources its way, so do some neighbourhood research.
Send out messages and emails to all the parents you know, and get your kids to ask around their classroom. See who wants what, the days they’re likely to be available on, and how long they can stay for.
Look into Insurance
Any club you set up as part of your children’s extra-curricular activities needs to be insured. You just don’t know what might occur!
And the school is very unlikely to allow anything that can’t be either added to its own insurance policy or be easily wrapped up with a new one you hold. If someone gets hurt, you’re going to need this coverage, even if it’s just a creative writing workshop!
Make Sure There’s a First Aider on Site
This is likely to be a clause in your insurance anyway, but make sure there’s at least one qualified first aider on site whenever your club hours are in full swing.
It doesn’t have to be you, or anyone you’ve roped in to help out, but if there’s someone in the office with the qualification and can be easily called over, that’s just fine.
Get the Kits Made
If you want to start up a football, netball, tennis, or otherwise sporty club, you’re probably going to want to get some kits made once you’ve got a team together. And we’ve got some good news! You can easily make some educational sports kits online and get them sent straight to the school.
Understand Policy Requirements
Even with an active insurance policy, you’re going to need to think about other kinds of policies that’ll keep the club a safe and happy place. For example, if a child is uncollected and doesn’t know when their parents will be able to get to them, what will you do?
The same goes for if a child goes missing; what counts as missing, who gets called, how do you search for them, etc. And then consider general safeguarding to keep problems like these from cropping up too regularly.
If you want to start a club at your kids’ school, consider these points to build up a proper action plan.
