Diary of an Activities Manager

This is an example of what an AM's diary might look like, to give those new to the role an idea of what to expect. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Scroll down to the bottom for links to example timetables/diaries of other job positions.

Monday

Busy morning: meet the new group leaders this morning to discuss their program. They leave on a Saturday so they need a make-up excursion this Sunday. I'll run Brighton so I can sell it as an optional and fill the other 30 seats up. Paperwork was a pain because I had to chase people for entrance vouchers, but it's all in now. Fortunately I did the report last night.

Got a new AL yesterday, so I had to spend an hour inducting them, and left them to shadow somebody else for the afternoon. Seems solid enough, but I'll probably send them into town with somebody else for a 'shakedown' this afternoon.

Discos all confirmed for the week: someone suggested a movie star fancy dress competition for Friday, so I've sent them off to make up the posters and get the teachers to promote it a bit in class. Must buy prizes. I also got the DOS to check that the teachers all use some excursion materials for Wednesday.

Tonight's disco went off OK, though I had to keep an eye on a couple of the teachers who tried to slope off.

 Tuesday

Spent the morning double-checking arrangements for this week's excursions. Had to re-jig the coach lists for tomorrow, and re-arrange the destinations for the weekend. One of the Italian groups needed a bit of work to get them to commit to the Optional on Sunday - they kept having to go back to their group to ask them. They agreed in the end, otherwise I would have needed to release the coach and get a minibus. Confirmed the coach numbers with the coach company, and asked Head Office for extra petty cash for the entrance on Sunday.

Afternoon activities were arts & crafts and sports. Sent Joe around the classes to drum up support for the volleyball tournament, and we got four teams, plus the staff. Spaniards won. Need to get some more cloth for arts & crafts, as they used a fair bit making silly hats today.

Evening activity was the quiz night, so we had to get a couple of teachers to write questions, prepare the music round tape and get all the answer sheets together. Forgot to get a prize so I had to dash to the corner shop for some Quality Street. It went quite well, with about forty people turning up, but we still showed a video and had some people playing football. 

Lights out duty tonight. students were fairly quiet, except that Welfare Supervisor and Dave (teacher) caught a boy trying to get in through a girl's window!

 Wednesday

Last minute changes to staff rota as one of the ALs went sick, so one of the teachers went on the coach instead. Coaches came on time, but we had the usual grief to get the groups onto the right bus. Excursion finally went OK, though some of the parties bunched up on route and they got mixed up. One of the staff counted up later and found a kid missing, which caused a few frantic phone calls until he was found with another group. Something for the weekend excursion briefing tomorrow.

Peaceful afternoon, though. Got all the centre-based programme sorted out for next week, confirmed the sports centre, and drafted the staff rota. Got one teacher to change all the excursion posters ready for the weekend, and another to sort out the info sheets for Saturday. Still some changes to be made for the Russians, but we can do their sheets later.

Made sure the evening activities started OK, which meant chasing up a few groups of students, and getting the GLs to help form teams. CD has promised to be around to look after it, which means an early night.

 Thursday

Tricky morning re-arranging some of the excursions because a couple of GLs wanted to change the programme and go to Tussaud's. The main problem was that they wanted to go there by coach and have the coach pick them up later - shame about the other 30 people on the coach! In the end we made a compromise and they will go there by tube in the afternoon. Coach company will pick them up separately.

Spent the afternoon sorting out the afternoon activities for next week, but I'm glad I broke away to check on the ones already running because I had to talk to a couple of members of staff who were nowhere near the students they were 'supervising'. DOS is going to talk to them further.

Next week's activities are now done, though we've had to change a couple of things. We were going to have a drama session on Thursday, with a performance before the games night, but because the most 'arty' teachers are leaving this weekend we might not be able to do it. I've shoved in something out of the activity book to fill the gap, but I'm still trying to put the drama in somewhere else.

Had meeting with staff to brief them on the weekend's activities, and check that they had all planned excursion exercises. Usual complaints about some students leaving and some going to different places, but I'd mentioned this to the DOS last week and he's produced some comparison lessons, so everyone can do something. Will check they all know what they are doing tomorrow. Had a similar meeting with the GLs just after dinner, and everything looks fine.

Rota up for next week.

 Friday

Made last minute tweaks to info sheets for weekend excursions, and printed off a load of them, only to have another group want to go on the optional on Sunday. I then spent hours trying to find a coach for them as there wasn't room on the existing one. A minibus was too expensive, and in the end they agreed to go by train, which will cost them less anyway.

Afternoon activities seem to have been OK, though I didn't get much time to check on them. Sent a teacher to get a couple of videos for the weekend, and some arts materials to replace the 'shake & bakes' we've used.

Went around the classes in fancy dress (Stallone) to promote the movie star party at the disco. Didn't do much for my image, but it seemed to spur the students on a bit, and we had to give out an additional prize for the entire Inter Milan team. A few of the teaching staff got into the spirit of things too.

Did night duty again last night, and they were a bit lively, especially as a group of Italians is leaving in the early hours. Fortunately the CD had pre-empted this and we had extra staff bedtime teams going around. Usual couples trying to drift away from the party, and one of the GLs held a pasta party that we had to ask to keep quiet a couple of times. Constantly closing doors propped open with fire extinguishers.

 Saturday

Nearly everything went wrong for the start of the excursion. First of all the packed lunches didn't show up until 8.45am, which left us with the problem of counting them and putting them all on the buses in five minutes, only to find that we were a bus short and the drivers that had come didn't know anything about another one. A quick phone call to the coach company revealed that he had contracted the job out to someone else, who just happened to arrive as he was telling me this. Not good for the nerves! Then we found that a whole group of Italians hadn't turned up, so I had to call someone who was still in the hall to go and look for them. They found them chatting outside their block, and only left after a few words were spoken. In the meantime I sent the other coaches off, leaving a very irate French leader and her group waiting on the last one. 

I went back to my room for a few hours, and then sat down to do my reports and paperwork in the afternoon. I got a phone call from one of the staff at about 2pm to ask where to meet the coach (shows who was listening!) and then another from someone whose party had decided they didn't want to go to the museum, which was fine by me anyway. 

I helped the DOS and Welfare Supervisor do the first arrivals at about four, and then went back to the car park to wait for the excursion coaches. One of them got stuck in an accident on the motorway and got held up. The catering people weren't too happy about having to hold dinner, but a bit of sweet talking kept them there for a few more minutes. They finally got there about twenty minutes late. 

More arrivals later on, so there was a fair amount of waiting for coaches and sorting out keys with the welfare supervisors, and then marshalling the new students into convenient groups for checking in. The all got bedded down in time for the night's activities.  

Had a briefing with the staff covering the activities before they started, because there had been some local lads hanging around the site, and also there was a suspicion that a couple of the 16-year-olds had been buying booze. As it happened, the night passed away without problem, and the 'Great Egg Race' went down a storm with the younger students.

I'm off tomorrow, so I spent 30 minutes briefing the ALs and the CD about the excursions and activities, right down to the number of packed lunches for each coach and the cost of the tickets for the train group. CD has given the money to the AL in charge of that one, and he has my mobile number if he needs me anyway. With that and the paperwork safely done, I can look forward to a relaxing day off. Off to the pub!