07 Oct After school enterprise clubs

Enterprise education in not on the primary curriculum in the UK. This is why so many primary schools are choosing to adopt after school enterprise clubs to offer the opportunity for some students to learn important skills. After school clubs are a great way of helping children learn in an environment which is supervised but more relaxed than a formal classroom environment and serve a number of purposes for parents and the school. So why should schools adopt an after school enterprise club?

Let’s face it:

Many schools and teachers find it difficult to get enough enterprise education into their core curriculum but realise how important and effective it can be in a child’s development. An after school enterprise club represents a perfect way to introduce a broad range of skills without compromising on anything in an already packed national curriculum.

Enterprise education promotes independent learning, innovation and resourcefulness. Being outside of the formal classroom environment helps children’s creative side and make them less worried about making mistakes.

 

After school enterprise club resources

As with all forms of enterprise education, the resources must provide flexible options for learning.

The best resources will enable a range of group dynamics within the after school enterprise club. This may include full group learning, individual development or project work based in smaller groups. Remember that enterprise should perfectly caters for a range of ages and abilities and that students who may not excel in academic subjects may be brilliant at enterprise. It also enables students to adopt roles and responsibilities and promotes teamwork and communication.

There are simply endless possibilities when it comes to enterprise and you’ll never run out of things to do in your after school enterprise club. Good resources will enable you to be very flexible in your approach in terms of being hands on, how structured the club is, how long it lasts and what the dynamic and set up of the session is. Some teachers will want or need well-explained resources and planned out lesson plans so it is always good to have more information and direct available than not enough – what happens when the after school enterprise club teacher is off sick?

How to set up an after school enterprise club

There are a number of education providers who can deliver after school enterprise clubs if the school would rather an external body deliver the sessions. Alternatively, schools can purchase resources to enable much greater flexibility in how the sessions are delivered. By owning enterprise education resources, the school can use teachers, parents, governors or volunteers to deliver the sessions, as little as often as they’d like! It also means, where resources can be used across the whole curriculum, they can be easily integrated into other lesson during the school day or lunch time clubs.

Some enterprise projects could last for the duration of the one club session whilst others might last half a term of even a whole year. Having something at the end of the year like a pitch competition or having a stall at the school fete will create a real buzz about enterprise and give the club real purpose! If you’ve managed to integrate enterprise more firmly into the curriculum, say, in maths, the school fete and other events will actually contribute towards teaching and learning objectives.

We’re passionate about empowering teachers running the school’s enterprise clubs. This way teachers, themselves, will learn how to deliver enterprise education which is crucial in developing an enterprising culture at school. Over time, it should be easier to integrate elements of enterprise education into the school day which means all children can benefit from the skills and attitudes it helps create. You can read more about why we’re confident in teachers’ ability to teach enterprise here.

Clever Tykes is here to help. If you want to start an after school enterprise club for your primary school, our school bundle provides everything you would need to create a rewarding and effective programme. We also work with Children’s University to deliver after school enterprise clubs to schools on their programme.