Personal Development

Acquisition of skills

Employers consistently say that young people often lack key workplace skills. We want all our pupils to be well prepared for the demands of the workplace so that they really stand out at interview and flourish in a range of professional environments.

Lower School, Middle School and Sixth Form provide plenty of opportunities to develop and to practise communication, teamwork, initiative and leadership skills as encompassed in our Values and Virtues. The more involved pupils become in the life of the school, the greater their opportunities.

Opportunities to get involved

Pupils can demonstrate their commitment to both academic and co-curricular events and activities by taking part in life ‘outside the classroom’. Doing so will enable them to develop their abilities to work in a team and to work effectively with a wide range of people including teachers, peers, younger pupils and others outside school. Showing that they can work with a variety of people is a key skill in today’s global job market.

POCK Challenge

We aim to instill our core values of courage, truth and trust within the characters of our young people by offering them a wide range of co-curricular opportunities to inspire, engage and challenge them.  Each child is presented with the 'POCK Challenge'.  The challenge invites our pupils to immerse themselves in at least one club or activity from each of the following categories: Physical, Outreach, Creative, Knowledge.  By doing so, we believe this will prepare our students with the skills and spirit to thrive throughout their lives, and we are committed to helping each child find their passion, nurture their talents and prepare them for a successful life after school.

Clubs

Our Co-curricular programme offers the choice of over 20 sports, nine music clubs and four drama productions throughout every school year.  In addition, our pupils can choose from a range of inspiring co-curricular clubs such as archery, debating, classical Greek, coding, CAD design and Young Enterprise.

Co-curricular Booklet 

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is offered at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, allowing our pupils to stretch their capabilities in a challenging environment as well as developing a range of interpersonal skills that will stand them in excellent stead for life beyond the classroom.

Positions of responsibility to suit everyone

In all three divisions of the school, pupils can volunteer to take on responsibility and we will support them to find a role to suit their skills. This could be helping out with our younger pupils e.g. listening to young readers, acting as prep-room assistants or helping with after-school care. Alternatively, they might become a school or house prefect or captain, a library assistant, a sports team captain, a CCF officer, a student council representative, a subject prefect. They can even bring us their own ideas and we may be able to create a role just for them.

Careers and University Advice

Whatever our pupils’ aspirations beyond school, they will get guidance and careers advice from our excellent specialist Careers Service . In the Lower and Middle School, pupils are introduced to a variety of careers with sessions delivered through our daily tutor programme as well as talks and seminars from former pupils and parents.  In the Sixth Form, the guidance is intensified and includes individual support for university applications (including specialist applications to medicine, veterinary medicine and Oxbridge), degree apprenticeships and work-based training courses, academic scholarships and GAP year advice. They will also be able to practice their interview skills with an independent external interviewer.

Since no two students are the same, pupils find this one-to-one support, tailored to their individual needs, to be invaluable in guiding them through the difficult decision-making process they will face in the Sixth Form.