How to promote your club

Once you know when your club will start, there are a few different ways you can promote it to pupils and parents at a school.

Assembly presentation

We have a short assembly presentation to help show children what Design Club looks like. This presentation also helps teachers get a feel for Design Club and how it works.

Clubs fair

Some schools run an after school clubs fair at the beginning of term. Ask if your school runs one and, if it does, try to go along. Clubs fairs are a good way for pupils to browse through the different activities on offer, and ask club leaders questions about what their club involves. Print out an A4 poster and A4 mini project. Stick the project to a wall or table so you can talk children through exactly what they'll be doing.

Email promotion

It’s likely the school will send out an email to parents telling them what extracurricular activities are available. Usually they’ll want a short paragraph describing what the club is about, and possibly a photo (photos on Dropbox).

Here's a short paragraph you can use:

Design Club (www.designclub.org.uk) introduces children to how designers work. We set a design challenge, understand users, come up with ideas, prototype ideas and test solutions. We'll start with prototyping a mobile phone app.

Posters & flyers

Ask the school if they will be able to distribute these. Some schools will give pupils handouts to take home, or they may be happy to put up posters in communal areas and classrooms. See our A4 poster and A5 flyer (on Dropbox).

Managing expectations

You may find your club is over-subscribed. Try to be firm on numbers. Children will need individual attention and you will find a ratio of 5 children to 1 adult is probably the maximum. Explain that you are happy to add any extra names to a waiting list.

Alternatively, you can accept all the children who sign up, but anticipate that some will drop out. This is more likely to happen at a secondary school where students manage their own time and are less likely to depend on parents to pick them up.