Seven best after-school clubs that facilitate learning
If you’re looking for your child to continue learning when they leave school, after-school clubs could be the best option.
To help you out, this article will provide seven of the best after-school activities your child can attend to ensure continual learning.
Chess
Chess is a great way to improve a child’s strategic and critical thinking. Plus, it is a fun, competitive sport that can help them meet new people.
Chess has been around since the 8th century and has been used by some of the world’s most powerful people to improve their thinking and problem solving. Additionally, chess ability has been linked to IQ. So, improving your child’s chess skills could have a noticeable impact on the rest of their studies.
To learn more about how chess can help your child and the High School’s chess club, get in touch.
Learn a Language
One invaluable skill to learn at an early age is a second language. When children are young, their minds are like sponges. Therefore, introducing them to a second language earlier rather than later can have a noticeable impact on how quickly they develop and adopt it.
Around 17% of the UK are bilingual. So, if your child were to start early with one of our after-school clubs, they would be amongst an exclusive group of people which could have positive effects on their employment and future opportunities.
We have a wide range of after-school language clubs available for your child, including Spanish and Mandarin. Speak to your child and see what they’d prefer to start with - they can even take a few if they’re feeling brave!
Learn an Instrument
Another skill children could learn with an after-school club is an instrument. Like languages, they’ll pick up something like the guitar or flute a lot quicker when they’re younger. It’s best to get them started as soon as possible.
One of the cognitive benefits to learning an instrument is the improvement it has on memory. When you’re reading music or learning a song, you’ll need to remember a lot of notes and movements to get it correct. As memory is like a muscle (the more you exercise it the better it is), learning an instrument will have good repercussions for their classroom studies.
Additionally, some studies have found a correlation between musical training and enhanced sensory skills, such as hearing, touching, etc. Therefore, having your child learn an instrument could improve coordination and hearing.
Find out what sort of instrument your child would be interested in learning and get them started as soon as possible.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Although it may be one you wouldn’t have thought of, meditation is an excellent activity your child can do after-school.
Meditation and mindfulness help to remove any pesky thoughts going on in your mind and help you remain present in the moment. School can be a stressful time and having something to do to rest the mind and regain focus can have a positive effect on studies.
Meditation and mindfulness can also help deal with stress. So, when it comes to exam season, your child will be in the best place to tackle any problems and achieve great results.
If you’re looking to get your child involved with mindfulness, check out the Junior School’s pastoral care which includes a partnership with Purple House, providing mindfulness to pupils.
Chemistry
Chemistry is a challenging subject for children to wrap their heads around. However, it is also one of the more entertaining subjects as it has interactive elements and interesting reactions to watch.
With an after-school chemistry club, your child can learn more about this difficult subject whilst they have fun with different experiments. It’ll help to bring out their curious minds and improve their knowledge of the subject whilst having positive impacts on their studies in school.
Get in touch now if you’re looking to get your child more involved with chemistry.
Debating Society
Communication is an invaluable soft skill that children should learn as early as possible. Although academic achievements and accolades are important when they want to climb the educational ladder or dive into employment, communication is the skill that demonstrates this.
An excellent after-school club to facilitate this skill is the debating society. By breaking down and explaining complex topics in a structured manner, your child will learn to critically assess information and construct fluid arguments for tough topics.
As your child will be communicating topics in an easy-to-understand way, they’ll slowly develop the skills to do that in everyday life. This kind of practise will have a positive impact on things like public speaking and conversations - all essential skills to have to aid employment and later life.
If you want to improve your child’s communication skills, investigate our debating society.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Although not strictly an after-school class, the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DOfE) is an excellent opportunity to participate in an exciting program that’ll have a positive impact on their future opportunities.
The program itself is designed to test students on their ability to plan and execute expeditions and requires them to learn new skills. Additionally, your child will have to volunteer and give back to the community, making the program both educational and fulfilling.
To learn more about the DOfE program, get in touch today or check out our page here.
Concluding
Having your child participate in after-school activities is a great way to continue their learning outside of their main school time.
If you need any further information on our after-school clubs and extra-curricular activities, get in touch today.