Enrichment Activities
Barton Court Grammar School offers a broad range of enrichment activities through the Enrichment Day and Enrichment Week programmes and the PSHEE curriculum. There are 3 Enrichment Days in total per year. The Enrichment Programme enables the school to provide experiential learning opportunities to students. Enrichment helps students to develop their interests and abilities, provides valuable learning experiences outside their studies, and promotes independence and interpersonal links with students in other years.
Students are given opportunities within school to:
- Inspire Lectures
- Visit Universities making links with their chosen subject areas (UCLP)
- PSHEE wellbeing days
- 6 PSHEE sessions across the year delivered by tutors and outside speakers
- The Learning 2 Learn Programme
- G&T workshops and projects
- Vote in school-based elections
- Student Voice (Sit on student council).
- Student Drive Team
- Attend clubs at lunchtime and after-school extracurricular clubs (see separate list)
- Go on school trips
- Participate in sports fixtures
- Participate in cross –curricular Inter-House competitions
- Participate in musical events, drama productions
- Take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
- Participate in competitions such as Maths Challenge, Biology Olympiad, Debating, Design Technology
- STEM programme (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
- School magazine, The Clarion!
- Take on a leadership role, such as Head Girl/Boy, Prefect
- Be a student Mentor
- Lead and present in assemblies
- Lead and support regular charity events
Enrichment Days
These days enrich the curriculum and allow students to learn through a wide range of activities in a variety of settings, both in school and beyond. Enrichment Days provide opportunities for students to strengthen and further develop their skills to become confident independent learners ready for the challenges of the 21st Century. Our students become increasingly active and independent in their learning and thinking. Students participate in activities that are truly cross-curricular in order to make links between different areas of the curriculum and in order to develop truly transferable skills. Students develop a wide-range of skills including Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (Creative Thinking, Effective Participation, Independent Enquiry, Reflective Learning, Self-Management and Team Working), Enterprise skills (Innovation, Creativity, Planning, Personal Risk and Management) and Leadership skills.
Enrichment Week
Enrichment week is an important and rewarding week during term 6 in July. It is an opportunity for students to take charge of their learning journey, to challenge themselves with new experiences, work alongside their peers in different year groups, activities and numerous workshops offered by all departments at the school. During Enrichment Week, normal lessons are suspended and we aim to provide students with a wide range of opportunities that help to enrich their school experience. In the past these have included a huge array of trips to a variety of different places both locally and abroad. We believe that it is important to give students a taste of life and culture in other countries to broaden their horizons. As such, foreign travel features in the programme. Students in Year 8 and Year 9 have the opportunity to take a residential trip to Italy, where they can sample the culture and visit historical sites. Taking part in a fun and enjoyable residential visit, allows students to experience new activities, make new friends, build self-confidence, develop team-work skills, leadership skills and experience the life and culture in another country, if the trip is abroad.
Students in Year 11 and Year 13 will be taking a welcome break/holiday following the completion of their GCSE, A –Level and BTEC examinations. Year 10 and Year 12 students will be taking part in Work Experience. Students in Year 8 and 9 will have the opportunity to take part in school based activities or one of the day trips offered and listed in the Enrichment Week booklet. In Year 7, students will take part in a residential camp, where students will be able to not only build self-confidence and team-work skills by bonding as a year group, but also valuable bush craft and first aid skills will be covered during the week.
For students not taking part in one of the many residential trips offered there is a full Enrichment Programme offered in School. There will be a range of on-site activities for students across the different years such as Pond dipping, Zumba, Boxing, Technology Challenge, First Aid courses, Tennis, Music, Art and PE activities such as Bench Ball, Gaelic Football and American Football. Multicultural days are also being organised for Year 8 and Year 9 where a variety of workshops will be led by international / external visitors. Other activities are also on offer across different years, including Red Cross workshops dealing with "How to stay safe" course, Kent Warden and Kent Fire and Rescue offering workshops of staying safe.
