Co-Curricular Activities
The academy offers a wide-ranging co-curricular programme designed to nurture, develop and stretch pupils’ talents and interests.
We want all pupils to be exposed to every possible opportunity that they might not have in their everyday life. Through the programme, students can gain the knowledge and cultural capital they need to become responsible, effective and active citizens.
Download a list of our co-curricular activities - January 2020 (pdf).
Many of the co-curricular activities are open to students across both the primary and secondary phase. This provides a chance for students to develop social skills by communicating with pupils of all ages. Read the latest news stories about our clubs, trips and visits.
Pupils are told about activities through Harris News and by their tutors. At the secondary phase we host a Co-Curriculum Fair each September. This is an opportunity for pupils to speak with the staff leading activities and to sign up for an activity. Permission slips are sent home so that parents are not only aware of the activities their child will attend, but also to encourage them to attend more and take an active role in this.
Other opportunities
In addition to the activities listed above, the academy hosts an annual Christmas Concert and Summer Show. Primary phase students participate in a weekly Forest School lesson. The most able students participate in the Brilliant Club – a programme through which students are tutored by PhD students and then write a university-style essay. Sixth Form students participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
As a Harris academy, we are also part of Harris Experience. This programme has been designed for the most able students from Year 9 onwards. It exposes them to a range of cultural experiences that take their learning well beyond the curriculum. Recent examples range from learning the art of auctioneering at Christie’s to a day of lectures at the University of Oxford.
Measuring the impact
Registers are taken at every co-curricular activity so that we can track exactly who is attending which clubs, how many and how often. This is useful information for the school so that we can ensure that every pupil at HGA is given proper guidance in choosing activities and are positively reinforced; more pupils will then have access to these important activities. This information will also allow us to evaluate the co-curriculum programme regularly.
At the end of the 2018-19, pupils completed a survey in which they told us that they really enjoyed our activities and that they wanted more, which is excellent! This year we are offering more activities in response to these results. The activity that students requested the most was football - pupils want more football teams, and so this has been carefully planned out with the PE department.
Sports clubs
As well as the clubs, our PE department runs weekly training sessions for our Harris Garrard sports teams:
- Year 7 girls netball
- Year 8 girls netball
- Year 7 boys football
- Year 8 boys football
- Year 7 & 8 girls football
Download our list of co-curricular clubs from previous terms: Nov 2019.
