Clever Clubs Life
Tat’s Edutainment! How does recreational learning really benefit children asks Emily Jenkinson I
ncreasingly clubs, classes and activities for children as young as 12 months are selling themselves as having an educational advantage. Te opportunities
for after-school edutainment only increase as children start school, with after-school clubs offering everything from drama, art and debating, to more obscure activities such as juggling, circus skills or tae kwon-do as a way of developing new skills. Outside school, children’s parties and clubs that “support learning” are springing up all over the place. But which activities are worth signing up for and how do they really benefit children? Entertaining activities that are also
educational can play a role in children’s lives from a very young age. Te Government’s 2008 Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) made it a compulsory requirement for all nurseries, pre-schools and child-minders to see that children aged 0-5 hit a series of learning targets before they start education, and there has been an exponential growth in activities that claim to support this. Isle of Wight-based dance teacher Linda
Smith has spent the last 12 years in close consultation with nursery, pre-school and play school teachers developing, Dance with a Difference, which is aimed at teaching three to seven year-olds the required elements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage One. Combining dance with education can “enhance toddlers’ love of moving to music, help with co-ordination, rhythm, gross motor skills and confidence”. It also includes “counting, learning of left and right, vocabulary, colours, sharing and waiting their turn,” adds Anne-Marie Wilkins, founder of Diddi Dance, which offers dance classes for pre-schoolers. Educational parties and clubs can help children learn new skills, gain confidence
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and build on knowledge learned in school. Te Action Station runs themed drama workshops based around a subject on the curriculum, like the Second World War, as well as storytelling birthday parties, in which experienced actors lead sessions directed by the children’s own imagination. “Drama is an excellent medium to raise confidence and creativity,” says Katerina Lazaridou, co-founder of Te Action Station, who has just launched Language in Action. Native-
‘Drama is an excellent medium to raise confidence and creativity’
Katerina Lazaridou of The Action Station
speaking actors use drama to teach children a foreign language such as French, Spanish, German or Mandarin – “they have fun, but are also learning,” says Lazaridou. Allowing children to have fun in their
after-school life is fundamental, says Charles Holloway, Headmaster at Westville, West Yorkshire, which offers more unusual activities including origami (“great for the application of maths and spatial awareness”), ocarinas (music) and juggling (hand to eye co-ordination). “Clubs should not be treated as a way of enhancing learning. Tey are intended to be plain good fun – there’s not much room for plain good fun these days!” Jane Cameron, Headmistress of Notting
Hill Prep, London, agrees: “We are not keen on children in Reception taking part in too many activities and there aren’t many children in Year One who do either, as we feel they have got enough on their hands just with settling into school.” As children get older, the school offers a wide range of
after-school activities. Cameron says there is real value in allowing children time to just “stand and stare”. “I think parents need to think about what their children really enjoy and are passionate about,” she says. “Some parents feel it very important for their child to have home time and just be.” At the Terra Nova Nursery and Junior
school in Cheshire, Headmaster Andrew Lewin sees after-school activities as the way forward, noting, “busy children who are purposeful in what they do are the happiest.” When both parents work, after-school and holiday clubs take on an increasingly important role in children’s lives, to give their offspring the opportunities. By taking part in activities from a young age, Terra Nova pupils gain confidence so that, by the time they reach Year Tree, they often ask if they can board. Getting the most out of after-school
clubs lies in finding a balance that works for both parent and child – and in remembering that not all children or families need or want the same things. Tere will always be a place for free time in a child’s life, and for parents to play as active a role as they can in their child’s development, but there is much to be gained from learning something new while having fun. Now the opportunity to do so has never been greater.
Further information
• Diddi Dance
www.diddidance.com • The Creation Station
www.thecreationstation.co.uk
• Science Boffins
www.scienceboffins.com, 0800 019-2636
• Yoga Bugs
www.yogabugs.com • The Action Station
www.theactionstation.co.uk • Dance with a Difference www.
dancewithadifference.co.uk
Autumn 2011 FirstEleven 65
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