Just under three quarters of 10-15 year olds take part in some kind of out-of-school activities, and sport clubs are the reigning champions. There’s been high and fairly steady participation across the last ten years, though recent years saw a little drop in numbers. There’s also been a slight decline in the percentage of young people taking part in dance classes (from 14.7% to 11.9%). On the flip side, there are equally slight increases in the number of younger teenagers engaging with music, art, and religious classes. Less physical activity and more creativity?

We can also see a growing trend of young people receiving tutoring support beyond their regular classroom hours. Whether this is linked to the trends we’ve observed elsewhere – for example decreased satisfaction with school (see Chart 1 in this section) – we can’t be sure. And let’s not forget that the world hit pause during the pandemic, and extracurricular activities took a hit too. Other data suggests that in May 2021, only 53% of young people were actively involved in them, though by 2022 that number had shot up to 83%.¹