Extra Curricular
How does extra-curricular provision work at Cheam High School?
Cheam High School offers a huge variety of extra-curricular activities which are open to students of all ages and abilities. Activities the school offers cover a huge spectrum which has recently ranged from coding to crochet, from fencing to football and from dance to Dungeons and Dragons Club. Almost all activities are free of charge and are led by school staff but there are some that require additional payment and are led by expert external providers.
Part of the culture of the school is each year group’s Inter Tutor Competition where each tutor group compete across a range of activities to win a prize – often a much-coveted day out - at the end of the year.
We also offer larger-scale communal events such as the Year 7 Sponsored Walk which involves the entire year group and raises thousands of pounds for charity each year, and Cheam Fest, our own annual school festival which celebrates our school community. Additionally, the school runs termly days where students take part in learning and development opportunities outside of the formal curriculum. These include Number Day for Key Stage 3 students, for example, where students take part in a range of Maths-related activities outside of the classroom, as well as team and confidence-building trips to external providers such as Walton Firs Activity Centre.
We also encourage students to use their extra-curricular opportunities to make positive change within the school community. Recently, for example, the school’s Eco Committee created a vegetable and herb garden and painted a huge mural, all giving up their own holiday time to do so.
The general extra-curricular programme is subject to change depending on staff availability and expertise. Any changes to the extra-curricular timetable are shared with students through tutor times (where a daily power point of key notices is shown) and assemblies, as well as being shared with parents/carers in our weekly Cheam High Flyer. Some departments also advertise their extra-curricular offer in their departmental spaces and we also update the programme displayed on the website at regular intervals.
How do we monitor attendance at extra-curricular activities?
Registers are taken for each activity and stored in a central area for safeguarding purposes. This also allows us to analyse which students are attending which clubs and make adaptations to the provision as appropriate.
How do we encourage attendance at extra-curricular activities?
Activities are regularly advertised to students and staff encourage students to get involved in as many activities as they can. Staff running activities add rewards to the school’s IRIS behaviour system which students can exchange for prizes at the school’s Swap Shop.
Of course, activities often also provide a great deal of positive reinforcement for students who attend. For example, students involved in the Sports Leader programme attend an annual award ceremony run by the PE Department, whilst those involved in our extra-curricular table tennis coaching have been able to compete in tournaments against other schools and clubs. Likewise, those involved in extra-curricular Drama or Music often have the opportunity to take part in a whole school production in front of a real audience. Our communal events are genuinely joyous events with huge numbers of students (and staff) keen to participate and students often encourage peers to get involved and make the most of the opportunities on offer.
Our provision is regularly reviewed and student-suggestions regarding any new provision (which usually come via the Student Council) are always welcome.
How do we support more able students in extra-curricular activities?
For students who wish to supplement their formal academic learning, a range of supra-curricular activities are available. For example, the Science Department host a Lego Robotics club and offer additional provision in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). Provision to offer students additional stretch or areas of academic exploration continues into 6th Form, most notably through the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) programme. To achieve the qualification, students independently research a particular area of interest before presenting their ideas and findings to live audience for discussion.
For a full guide to all of our extra-curricular activities this term, please click here
For a guide to our PE clubs running this term, please click here
For a guide to clubs running in our Personalised Learning Unit for Students (PLUS) this term, please click here
