Outside the Classroom

Clubs and Activities

A small school cannot offer as many differ­ent activ­it­ies to pursue outside the classroom, but it can try! Sixth formers will spend some of their spare time chat­ting, and enjoy­ing them­selves. However, it is import­ant to learn that there is more to ‘free time’ than pass­ive activ­ity. Hobbies is an old fash­ioned word but we think it import­ant to explore how to spend leis­ure time in as varied a way as possible. Whether phys­ical or intel­lec­tual, prac­tical or aesthetic, every­one should take up an activ­ity inside or out which devel­ops person­al­ity and breath of aware­ness. There are the four senior posts in the Quar­tet of Senior Schol­ars each year, but these are also lead­er­ship and respons­ib­il­ity posts in every sport as well as in school coun­cil, drama, music and others too numer­ous to list here. We recom­mend the Duke of Edin­burgh Award schemes as a holistic method of achiev­ing breadth. There is little compul­sion on our part to make students take part in activ­it­ies, but there is constant encouragement.

Community Service…Giving Time

We are offer­ing an excit­ing new oppor­tun­ity for Sixth Form students to carry out volun­tary service in the wider community. We have a strong tradi­tion of char­ity work at Friends’ and we expect all 6i students to form­ally complete a minimum of 20 hours using their skills and talents to help others. After a discus­sion with a tutor, they will be able to choose from a vari­ety of place­ments which include:

• work­ing with young people with special needs
• assist­ing in primary schools
• work­ing in char­ity shops
• organ­ising coffee morn­ings for the elderly
• help­ing in the Guiding/Scouting Asso­ci­ation Community Service will be timetabled to suit

As well as offer­ing their time and efforts to people in the local area, students derive a great deal of satis­fac­tion from this kind of work and it may even help them decide on their future careers. They will also develop skills whilst on these place­ments which will prove invalu­able as they move on to univer­sity and the world of work.

Careers

Careers Educa­tion in the Sixth Form is an exten­sion of the programme in the lower school. The primary aim is to enable you to under­stand and make informed choices about the options avail­able to you, either in Further Educa­tions or in employ­ment. A number of people are avail­able to talk about your future – the Careers Co-ordinator, the Head of Sixth Form, your personal tutor and your subject teach­ers. The school-link Careers adviser from Connex­ions is also regu­larly in school.

We also try to provide you with an intro­duc­tion to the work­ing envir­on­ment, by build­ing links with contacts in industry and Higher Educa­tion. We may be able to organ­ise work exper­i­ence for you, with local busi­ness and profes­sional people. Every year local members of Rotary Inter­na­tional provide the oppor­tun­ity of a mock inter­view with an inform­at­ive seed back.

The time spent in the Sixth Form will enable you to start to crys­tal­lise your ideas about the future. Our aim is to ensure that this is based on real­istic self-assessment, a compre­hens­ive aware­ness of the oppor­tun­it­ies avail­able and on a well-informed match­ing of interests, abil­it­ies and ambi­tions. We will try and support you in whatever you would like to do.