You should read Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, Miss,” says 15-year-old Kirsty McCaffrey. “It’s about the same thing as To Kill A Mockingbird but it’s not so slow.” Children recommending books to teachers is a welcome reversal, and it’s one of the by-products of the reading club at the Hollyfield school in Surbiton, Surrey, where, for the past year, librarian Irene Marillat has been running weekly after-school sessions. The big-value squash bottles are lined up next to the biscuit tin - “Food is the big thing,” says Irene - and the books are in a plastic crate on a library table as Year 7 and 8 pupils trickle in after lessons on Thursday. (Kirsty, a Year 11 pupil, is a helper.) Unprompted, the children are already talking books. Lucy Atkinson, 12, strongly disagrees with her peers’ positive assessment of Shadow of the Minotaur, by Alan Gibbons. “It was boring and had a pointless ending,” she says, equably. She is reading her way through Dave Pelzer’s series on his miserable childhood, and is currently on A Child Called It. “I’m a big reader, but not childish books,” she says. “A Child Called It is real; it’s not a made-up story.”

Today, Irene is photographing children (equal numbers of boys and girls) with their favourite books. Each picture will be stuck on a bookmark, with the child’s written review. The activity is a bit of a risk, because the children’s least favourite activity is writing. what they like best - a club questionnaire has revealed - is discussing books together. And one of the joys of a club is that children’s enthusiasms can be followed rather than suppressed.

“Sometimes there’s no chance for a child to discuss books, if parents don’t or friends don’t,” says Irene. “The club gives them the opportunity to talk about things they find moving, or sad. If you create that environment, who knows what it might lead to?” The Bookworms club at the Hollyfield was started with a pound;1,000 grant from the National Lottery and the Daily Mail. But Education Extra, the charity promoting out-of-hours learning, is keen to encourage the idea that all schools can have clubs and this week launches a new set of booklets, sponsored by The TES, on how to design and run them, and raise funds for a range of activities.

“Clubs help children to see that learning can be fun, and there’s plenty of evidence to show that involvement in extra-curricular activities helps achievement and attendance,” says Ginny Harris, a spokeswoman for the charity. “Teachers enjoy it as well.”

Where there is one club, there tend to be others. How many are there at Stephenson Way primary school, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham? “Let me count,” says deputy head Alison Gargan. “History, football, netball, left-handersI” The most popular of the eight extra-curricular clubs is the after-school history club, initiated by teacher David Field, and run by parents and governors. This year, 78 of the 360 pupils have expressed an interest in joining.

“They just love it. They can do drama and artwork. It’s a chance for them to express themselves in a way they may not be able to in the classroom,” says Ms Gargan.

Winning three national prizes (most recently a Spirit of Normandy history competition) has helped Stephenson Way attract funds. But the clubs are fuelled primarily by adult and child enthusiasm. “We have a core of committed parents who are now hugely experienced,” says Jean Atkinson, a teacher and special needs co-ordinator. “One has gone on to be a classroom assistant, and another is a learning support assistant. It has empowered parents. And children who are now grown up will still say, ‘I remember this, or that.’ While we might accept that many of the changes in education are valid, we have lost much of the essential spontaneity and creativity.”

While not designed with curriculum objectives in mind, clubs do help achievement, suggests Education Extra research. The 100 schools that started reading clubs a year ago with grant aid were asked to measure members’ reading skills at the start and end of the year. The results, says Lindsay Mackie of Education Extra, are “fantastically positive”. Whereas only 39 per cent of children in the control group had an increased reading age at the end of the year, some 80 per cent of reading club members had improved their skills. Wider benefits included a more positive attitude to school in general.

Reception teacher Sarah Richards is clubs co-ordinator at St Peter’s primary school in the London borough of Westminster. There, 210 children have a choice of 10 clubs - including pottery - all paid for by parental donations of pound;1 a week. All the clubs, she says, build confidence, self-esteem and teamwork. “Then you can go for further individual skills for each club.”

She says the school has raised several thousand pounds and been able to buy equipment, including a kiln. “The paperwork can be a bit of a nightmare but I’ve simplified it recently. Once you’ve got the organisation there, the rest follows.”

Want to start a club?

Do

* Gain the backing of your senior management

* Visit a scheme already in operation (or read some case studies)

* Involve pupils - test some of their ideas

* Start small

* Have clear aims

* Arrange staff and volunteer support

* Be innovative - introduce varying elements in your club such as drama with history, or football with maths

* Remember it’s a voluntary club - make sure the atmosphere is different from formal school

* Make it your own

* Have clear rules - and keep them

Don’t

* Try to do too much

* Forget non-teaching staff

* Prejudge students’ potential

* Forget health and safety

* Let classwork intrude

* Get bogged down in paperwork

* Be afraid to take risks or have fun

* Use your club as a sanction (for example, detention after school)

Source: Education Extra guides.Guides on how to set up clubs in reading, visual arts, history and the environment are available from Lisa Warren at Education Extra, 17 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PL, pound;4.50 to TES readers and Education Extra members; pound;5 otherwise. Three for the price of two