Sporting chances could be lost after change to after-school guidelines

Sessions that parents previously paid a small fee for have now had to be altered, leading some coaches to be forced to pull the plug on the after-school programs they have been running for many years.

At one Dunfermline school, Dunfermline Carnegie Hockey Club has been sending coaches for over 20 years, but in January parents received a letter telling them the partnership was ‘ending due to circumstances beyond our control’. .

A spokesman for the club said the small fee paid by the parents covered the cost of the coach’s session, petrol and insurance, with the remainder going towards the club’s youth education.

“We are very disappointed with this uniform rule,” said the spokesman. “We are running free hockey taster courses and giving children the opportunity to play sports after lockdown restrictions.

“The children are missing out. Parents and children are happy and everyone is disappointed by this event. We hope for a reversal soon.”

Sports believed to be affected include hockey, martial arts and football, and charity Pars Foundation said it has had to change the way its sessions are run as a result.

General Manager, Kelly Armstrong, explained: “Before COVID we held 30 sessions in schools and could charge a fee per student per week to come along. When we got out of COVID we were told we could no longer do this to charge the students and the school has to collect the bill.

“We’ve been fortunate that we still have after-school programs, but we’re only getting enough money to cover coaching costs.

“It’s not nearly the same amount you can get back, but apparently it’s a mandate from the Scottish Government.”

Kelly said the foundation has faced a “double whammy” as her free after-school sessions could impact her other sessions elsewhere in the community.

“Because we were delivering to schools for free, the 3-4pm time impacted our evening classes as they wouldn’t come to a session we led in Pitreavie if they had attended one at school, so it was a double whammy .

“We used to go and do elementary one through three or elementary four through seven and had a larger target audience, but if we did then our evening classes wouldn’t happen because parents aren’t paying for something you get for free.

“We need to have a more focused approach, so let’s say let’s take our first six weeks of the semester and only have it as a girl and after that maybe we’ll do P6/7.

“During the course of the school year, every child had the opportunity to participate free of charge.”

Kelly also expressed frustration that the free school day initiative that affected her didn’t seem to be rolled out across the country.

“If it’s going to be all of Scotland, it has to be all of Scotland,” she said. “There were other organizations in other areas that went in and charged the pupils, so it’s not being done across Scotland.

“We’ve been doing this for free since March. We’re a charity and we have our goals that we want to achieve. We’re lucky that we get fees for coaching, but that means we don’t have to pay anything back.” ”

Fife Council Health and Wellbeing Officer Pamela Colburn said they would like to speak to organizations affected by the change.

“Giving young people the opportunity to participate in sport and physical activities is very important to us, and we know that the cost of activities can be a barrier to participation, particularly for young people from low-income families,” she said.

“Since January this year we have asked that all extracurricular sports and exercise clubs that take place in our schools be free of charge for the participants.

“Our active school coordinators work in partnership with schools where funds are required to enable activities to take place and ensure there are no direct costs to participants.

“We value all of our partners who run after-school clubs and activities in our schools and we have been in touch with them before making any changes so they can plan ahead.

“We’re always happy to discuss future opportunities, and any of our current providers who wish to chat should speak to their Active Schools Coordinator.”