Letter to School Requesting a New After-school Activity

After school activities can have huge benefits for children, from social benefits like meeting new children and adults in different settings, to learning and developing new skills, to boosting their attributes for 11+ exams, university application forms or jobs - obviously the extent to which these benefits are useful depends on the age of the child.

All children, however, can gain positive development from learning a new activity; some may find a sport that they enjoy and you as parents may see resultant health benefits as well as a new sense of self confidence. Similar effects can be seen when a child discovers a new artistic activity or musical ability - and learning these skills with school friends and in the school building but after the school day has officially ended can give a significant boost to children's academic performance too.

Different After School Activities

Despite most parents being aware of the benefits of after school activities, not to mention schools also being aware of these, some schools have limited resources, or limited interested staff, or limited time, or may give some other reason as to why they give children very little choice about after school activities - or even none at all. Some schools may only offer sports to children on the 'official' team, or may provide music tuition only in expensive and intensive one to one sessions, when parents may prefer the opportunity for their children to learn with more of an emphasis on 'fun'.

Other times children may discover more unusual activities, such as 'circus skills', drama lessons, poetry slams, badminton games, debating squad or similar, perhaps picking up the activity with friends, or on holiday, or on a summer camp, and may then desire to have the opportunity to learn these skills in school. If this is the case, it's well worth writing to the school to request the provision of the activity, as many schools will be happy to look into providing it if there is sufficient interest. Be aware too that usually there is a fee for after school activities if a teacher has to be bought in from outside, and parents will often have to contribute a proportion of that sum for their children to participate.

This letter format laid out below shows how parents can write to a school to request a new after school activity to be provided. It is based on a fictional family's contact with their school.

The School House
School Lane
Schoolville
England

Parental Address
Family Home
Anytown
England

5 February 2008

Dear Headteacher

My son Bob, in year 9 at The School House, this summer began to join speech and drama classes at the local church hall. He attended the classes with two school friends, and really enjoyed the sessions. Bob gained a lot from the drama course and I was talking to the parents of his fellow classmates, and we all agreed that if the school was to provide its pupils with these classes they would be popular and have wide-ranging effects, such as boosted confidence and more awareness of the nuances of reading and writing.

I'm writing to request the provision of speech and drama after school classes at the School House. I provisionally asked the teacher of Bob's church hall based classes whether he would be interested in offering classes at the school and he said he would be and already does so at some other local schools. If you like, I could pass on his details to him. I look forward to hearing from you about this. You can contact me, Mother, on 0131 2343 9049 or 0723422342, or email me at mother@parents.com, or via the address above.

With thanks for your time and best wishes

[signature]

Mrs Roberts, mother of Bob