Out of school activities can benefit your child’s learning and general well-being greatly. It can give them the opportunity to develop new skills, gain extra qualifications to add to their CV and most importantly, have a lot of fun. Here are some ideas:

Duke of Edinburgh expedition

The Duke of Edinburgh Award

This is a voluntary programme of activities that anyone aged 14-19 can try in their spare time. There are three levels of award; bronze, silver and gold, with gold being the most difficult and taking the longest to complete. You can do the bronze when you are 14, silver at 15 and gold at 16.

At each of the levels there are four sections to complete:

Service - service to individuals or the community, for example volunteering at a care home.

Skills – developing exisiting skills and talents or trying something new, for example a cookery course or mastering ballroom dancing.

Physical Recreation – getting fitter through participation in sport, dance of fitness activities.

Expeditions – planning, training for and completing an adventurous journey. The expedition doesn’t have to be completed on foot; you could do it by bike, canoe, kayak, wheelchair, sailing boat or even on a horse.

Many schools run the award, so contact your child’s school directly to see if this is the case. You can also do the award through organisations such as scouts and guides or even the local youth club.

To get more details about the award, take a look at the website.

The Prince's Trust

The Prince's Trust is a charity for young people aged 14-30 who feel like their life has gone off track. It works with those who are unemployed, may be living in care, are ex-offenders or performing poorly at school.

It can offer a great range of opportunities including mentoring, advice, training and personal development. The trust offers several courses aimed at young people.

Visit the Prince's Trust website for more information on how your child can get involved. 

Get your child fit and active with a sports club

Sports

There is no better way to keep your child entertained and burning off energy than an after school sports club. There is a massive range of clubs out there and there’s sure to be one that your child will enjoy. From football to trampolining, it will give them the opportunity to get active and make loads of new friends in the process.

Arts

Your child may want to engage their creative side and channel their inner thespian, and there is no better way of doing this than signing up to a dance, theatre or music club.