TITLE:
The Provision of Active After-School Clubs for Children in English Primary Schools: Implications for Increasing Children’s Physical Activity
AUTHORS:
Ben R. Davies, Lesley Wood, Kate Banfield, Mark J. Edwards, Russell Jago
KEYWORDS:
After-School, Extracurricular, Clubs, Active, Primary School
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.4 No.7,
July
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction: The
transition from primary to secondary school is a period when physical activity
(PA) declines. Interventions delivered during curriculum time have had limited
impact on PA. The after-school period may offer a valuable opportunity to
increase children’s PA. In order to identify how best to implement after-school
PA interventions for older primary school children, more information regarding
the provision of after-school clubs is required. This paper examined the current
after-school club provision of English primary schools. Methods: All
state-funded primary schools in England (n = 15,307) were sent an online
questionnaire in two phases during 2013. Schools were asked about the active
and non-active after-school clubs on offer to year 5 and year 6 pupils and the
days on which they run, the number of children attending each after-school
club, who funds the club and who leads the club. Results: Responding schools
(501) were reasonably representative of the national profile. Of the 2413 clubs
reported, more non-active than active clubs (5.3 vs. 4.8 per school) were
described. Football was the most frequently reported activity (offered by 79.5%
of schools), with netball and dance being offered by 45.3% and 44.1% of
schools, respectively. A high proportion of clubs was funded by schools or
parents (88.6%) and more than 40% were led by external parties. Conclusions: A
number of PA programmes are provided after-school but current provision is
dominated by team sports and thus, there is a need for non-sport specific PA
clubs. Furthermore, there is a need to find cost-effective methods of delivering
after-school PA programmes.