Welcome to St James's Extra-Curricular Clubs

The Autumn Term Club Booking Process:

► Currently, over +850 places are occupied in our school-run and external provider sessions each week.

► Hundreds of these places are offered free of charge! 

Thank you for encouraging your children to attend. Whilst we continue to implement our plans, the children have influenced the selection clubs on offer.  

When do the Autumn clubs run?

Please note that we are unable to accept child-care vouchers for St James's clubs as they do not meet the thresholds for Ofsted registration (this is because they are not classified as childcare, as each club offers less than the 2 hours minimum provision).

• Winter Clubs will commence on 3rd September 2024 and the majority will continue until the 19th December 2024.
• Please take check the club schedule to make sure that you are aware of the club finish date.

What time are the clubs?

There are four sessions throughout the school day to cater for your child:

• Before School: 8.00am to 8:40am
• Lunch: 30-40 minutes during your child’s scheduled lunch break
• Afternoon Club 1: 3:10/20pm to 4:30pm
• Afternoon Club 2: 4:30pm – 5:30pm

• Children should arrive within 10 minutes of the club starting, no earlier.

Collection from After School Club Session 1 and 2 will be through the Year 3 and 4 playground doors unless indicated otherwise by the club supervisor. 

• Collection from Afternoon School Club 2 sessions must be by an adult.

When do the school gates open for club collection?

With hundreds of children now on site between 3:30 and 5:30, it is right that we have limited access to the school grounds, ensuring the highest levels of safety.  

For this reason, the perimeter gate opening times are limited to the following:

• All gates to be opened at 14:55 and to be closed at 15:45 for normal end of day collection
• Pedestrian gates at Stanley Road and Wellesley Road (not the vehicle gate) to be opened at 16:25 and to be closed at 16:40 to facilitate collection from clubs finishing at 16:30
• All gates to be re-opened at 17:20 and to be closed by 17:40.

Unfortunately we will be unable to facilitate early pick-up from clubs and parents/carers are advised to not send their child.

StJ Extra wrap around care should be contacted directly for early collection as they manage this separately to the school. StJ Extra operate a ‘phone in system’ for parents needing to collect for ‘exceptional circumstances’ outside of these times.On these occasions, pupils will be dismissed from the front entrance of the school on Stanley Road. All further enquiries in relation to this should be referred to StJ Extra wrap around care.

Our gates are operated by a third party management company. We report lateness in opening and closing as well as faults directly to them. We continue to monitor their implementation of our above instruction.

Which clubs are in-house and which clubs are provided by external providers?

Some extra-curricular activities are run by external providers. Please see the table below for more information about these providers. Some externally run activities can still be booked through Scopay .

Please note that we are unable to accept child-care vouchers for St James's clubs as they do not meet the thresholds for Ofsted registration (this is because they are not classified as childcare, as each club offers less than the 2 hours minimum provision).

How do I book a club?

There are three types of booking:

• Invite only – no action required from parents.

• Scopay– the school manages the booking for these clubs (StJ Clubs and select external providers such as: Computer Explorers, Brentford, French, Cantonese, Spanish, cooking etc.).

• Externally – this is an external club and we have provided the details for you to book directly with the provider (Tag rugby, Knights Basketball, Real Runners, Chess, Ace Art Workshop, Sewing Club etc.).

For your Information:

• Club places are NOT pre-allocated or reserved for children from term to term.  This ensures that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to participate in all of the club activities.
• Club bookings are managed on a first come – first serve basis, in order to make it fair for all children to have equal access to the entire club schedule.

Booking Clubs through Scopay

• Login into your Scopay.

• Any clubs available to your child will show in the account.

• A non-refundable deposit of £5 must be paid to secure a place.

• Numbers will be capped.

• When the Club reaches capacity you will be unable to book a place on Scopay.

• Refunds will not be provided but we may be able to accommodate a change of club in exceptional circumstances.

Please note that we are unable to accept child-care vouchers for St James's clubs as they do not meet the thresholds for Ofsted registration (this is because they are not classified as childcare, as each club offers less than the 2 hours minimum provision).

How do I add my child to a waitlist?

• Please send an email to Clubs@st-james.richmond.sch.uk, stating your child’s name, class, the club name, day and time you wish to be added to the waitlist. 

• Emails will be followed up within 5 working days.

• You will be contacted if a place becomes available and invited to join.

Early Collection from Clubs

We strongly recommend that you do not send your child to after-school club sessions, if they need to be collected early.  We cannot guarantee that we can manage your requested time for your child's early collection. 

Cancelling Clubs:

• We should be notified within the first 3 weeks of the term, if your child no longer wants to attend a club.  Please inform us immediately via Clubs@st-james.richmond.sch.uk, so our registers can be updated and we can release the place to the next child on our waiting list.
• Failure to notify us that your child no longer wants to attend within the first 3 weeks of term, will result in you being charged the full cost of the club, regardless of your child’s attendance.
• In addition to the above, please note that if your child attends 4 or more club sessions across the term you will be charged the full cost of the term’s club, even if the child or parent ops for them not to participate in the full term's sessions (as it will be too late to offer the place to other children).