Now that school has resumed on site we are aiming to provide a range of co-curricular activities for the pupils. There are, of course, challenges to putting on activities outside the classroom under the current government guidance and the modifications that we have made within school do mean that we are not able to offer as wide a range of activities as in the past. However, as time goes on, we are hopeful that we will be able to further increase our offering to pupils.
The details of the clubs and societies that are running this term have been published to Firefly and this page will be kept updated as the term goes on. Whilst these activities are supervised by staff we are very keen for groups of pupils who have a specific interest to start up their own club or society. If pupils with a particular interest wish to start a club, then they need to discuss this with Mr Leadbetter who will do his best to facilitate this.
Media Club (pictured July 2019)
In the Music department, lessons with individual music teachers resumed this week with pupils being taught over Zoom for most of the lessons. There have been one or two glitches but hopefully the teachers and pupils will settle in to this mode of teaching in the following weeks. The chapel choir has started rehearsals in year group bubbles and their practice times are listed in the online calendar and the ‘week ahead’. In the next few weeks there will be year group ensembles being assembled and rehearsed with the intention of performing in some of this term’s virtual concerts.
St Cecilia's Concert (pictured November 2019)
Drama’s main aim has been to give all year groups a chance to audition for at least one play this year. We are planning a Year 6 play in June and a Year 7 play in May. The Year 8 play is also planned for May – a performance of Paper Aeroplanes, which was postponed from last year. The Middle School play, A Christmas Carol’, was auditioned at the start of term and will be performed in December. Although the cast is from three year groups they will all be kept in separate bubbles.
The school musical will be The Addams Family, to be performed in March, and pupils from Years 10, 12 and 13 are able to audition starting next week. To accommodate year-group bubbles, the musical will be divided into three parts. All the performances for this year are currently planned to be filmed, although we will keep this under review in line with current guidance.
Drama also runs a number of clubs including the Junior Drama Club (which this year will be split into separate years), the Costume and Craft Club and the Tech Club. Details of these clubs can be found on Firefly using the Clubs and Societies link above.
Closed school musical performance of 'Oliver!' (March 2020)
It has been an unusual start to the term for our sports teams with no fixtures against external opponents. However, we have been able to make use of this opportunity to run house sporting events on Saturdays when we would normally play our fixtures. Our first two weekends of term saw the Year 8 and 9 house teams compete in their postponed cricket competitions with Lyons taking the Year 8 victory and Clyde the Year 9 event. Over the next few weekends we are running the house rugby and netball competitions for each year group. Details for these are on the sports website. The house sporting events conclude just before half term with the house cross country on Saturday 10th October.
Girls' rowing (pictured 2018)
House competitions are not just about sport. They are plenty of other opportunities for pupils to get involved. Traditionally pupils in a house would all meet together on a regular basis, but under current guidelines the house assemblies remain a virtual event with the heads of house sending recorded messages to their members once a fortnight. It is in these ‘assemblies’ that important information is passed on about forthcoming events so pupils do need to pay attention to them. So far this term we have also run the Year 9 and Year 10 Maths events; congratulations go to Lyons for their win in Year 9 and to Nelson for their Year 10 victory. There are plenty of other non-sports events lined up this term with junior and senior photography competitions already underway and a drawing competition starting next week.
The aim of the co-curricular programme is to enable pupils to develop their social, sporting and cultural abilities and to foster their self-belief. To this end we would like to see every pupil taking part in at least one co-curricular activity this year. They could join a club, play in a sports team, take part in a performance or just take part in a house event. The co-curricular activities are vital to a rounded education and the offering that we provide will continue to be regularly reviewed in the light of current guidance.
Mr John Layng (Assistant Head: Co-Curricular)