Varied menu of activities

Many primary and secondary schools offer a wide range of extracurricular activities before and after school or in lunch breaks during term time, plus flexible holiday provision. These activities could include:

• sports activities
• creative use of computers
• homework clubs and summer schools
• arts activities
• drama clubs
• music lessons
• learning languages
• cooking classes
• model-making
• learning enterprise skills
• museum visits
• residential trips

Schools do not have to deliver all activities by themselves, however, nor provide them on the school site.  If they are unable to provide some activities then they can direct parents to existing services in the local community.  If schools do provide activities and charge a fee for them, then the childcare element of tax credits can be claimed for regular supervised provision for children up to 15 (or 16 if their child has a disability), if the school is charging for this service. Read more information on using tax credits for reducing childcare costs.

You might like to visit the Shine webpages for information on leisure opportunities for children and young people aged 5 - 18, and their families. If you have a child under 5 years of age then you may wish to find out more about York's Children's Centres, where pre-school children and their families can go to get services in their local area.

Extended Learning Opportunities

The Extended Services team at City of York Council are currently working with schools to provide Extended Learning Opportunities, or "study support" for children and young people. As well as the types of activities listed on this page, the Varied Menu of Activities provided by schools will include learning activities, motivating children and young people to become more effective learners and expand their knowledge.  More information will appear on these pages later in the year.