How to run safe, well-organised school clubs and extracurricular activities (templates included)
Running clubs and extracurricular activities is often a rewarding part of school life – but it also comes with a lot of coordination, risk management and responsibility.
From managing behaviour and ensuring student safety to organising staff, permissions and communication, it’s easy for things to become inconsistent and time-consuming.
Here are our tips for making extracurricular provision easier to manage, plus ready-to-use policy templates to help you get started.
Why structure matters in extracurricular provision
Extracurricular activities support student wellbeing, social development and engagement – and they strengthen school culture and community, providing opportunities beyond the classroom.
But without clear processes in place, schools can face inconsistent behaviour expectations, safeguarding risks, miscommunication with parents, and crucially, increased admin for staff.
A clear, shared framework helps reduce all of these risks.
Set clear expectations for behaviour
After-school and extracurricular environments are more relaxed than the classroom – but expectations still matter.
A strong approach to behaviour should:
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Be consistent across all clubs
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Focus on positive reinforcement
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Have clear boundaries
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Be communicated to students, staff and parents
For example, effective clubs encourage respect and inclusivity, set simple, visible rules, and address issues calmly and consistently.
Without this, staff often handle behaviour differently, which can lead to confusion and escalation.
Define roles and responsibilities
Extracurricular activities often involve teaching staff, external providers and sometimes volunteers. Without clarity, important things slip through, such as supervision and risk assessments.
Schools should ensure that:
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Staff understand their responsibilities
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External providers follow school policies
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Leadership has oversight of approvals and safety
These become especially important as programmes scale.
Prioritise safety and risk management
Every activity, from sports to creative clubs, carries some level of risk. Best practice includes:
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Completing risk assessments
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Ensuring appropriate supervision ratios
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Considering medical and additional needs
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Having clear incident processes
A consistent policy removes guesswork, protecting both students and staff.
Keep communication clear and consistent
Like all parts of school life, extracurricular success depends on communication. Schools need to clearly share:
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What the activity involves
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When and where it happens
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Costs and requirements
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How students participate
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What behaviour and other expectations look like
Clear communication reduces admin, avoids confusion and builds trust with families and carers.
Make it scalable (without increasing workload)
The real challenge isn’t just running a club – it’s running dozens of clubs using multiple providers, each with different schedules and locations.
Without structure, this quickly becomes admin-heavy, hard to track and even more difficult to standardise.
This is where ready-made templates and systems like Tes Clubs and Events and Tes Room Booking make a big difference.
Download our ready-to-use clubs and extracurricular activities policy templates
To help schools save time and bring consistency to their extracurricular provision, we’ve created:
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After-school club behaviour policy template
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Extracurricular activities policy template
These templates are:
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Easy to adapt for your school
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Designed to support safety, clarity and consistency
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Built to reduce admin for staff
Download the free policy pack to simplify clubs and extracurricular activities at your school, reducing staff workload and keeping students and staff safer.