Pitsford School’s extra-curricular programme is extensive and covers a wide range of activities for pupils to take part in. We encourage the pupils to do at least 3 activities, so that they can broaden their curriculum. We offer computer programming, eco-club, film club, drama-club, gardening, sailing, cross country, basketball, knitting, sculpture club, cardio-fitness, badminton, table-tennis, sports leaders, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, HPQ, tennis, football, school musical and many more.
The programme changes half-termly taking account of the weather and winter darkness, though some activities require a longer commitment. Sporting activities are compulsory: Rugby and netball from September to March; cricket and Rounders from April to July.
Activities run from 4:20pm until 5:20pm and this is when parents should collect their children. We offer prep every night; allowing pupils to complete homework tasks in school. It also means that if, for any reason, you cannot collect your child at 4pm, they can go to prep instead. In the lent term there additionally a range of extra subject clinics to support the examination classes at GCSE and A Level.
Our trips and visits programme is extensive. Many trips are linked to supporting the academic curriculum because we know that children benefit from taking their learning outside of the classroom, and some subjects have an active requirement for field study. In Year 9 we run a combined French and History tour that includes the battlefields of Northern France. We have had recent trips to Barcelona, Munich, Cologne and Iceland.
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme is offered in Year 10 at Bronze Level, and pupils complete practice walks in the local area and the final expedition in the Peak District. In the Lower Sixth a significant proportion of pupils take up the Gold Level Award. The expedition is even more demanding and recent expeditions have been in Snowdonia and the Lake District. Pupils have to
complete a residential stay in addition.
In the summer, all pupils join in ‘Expedition Day’ which is not as gruelling as it sounds. Optional activities run to suit all tastes, usually with the element of physical challenge or educational merit. For instance, one year we booked out the Aqua Park at Rutland Water – a huge inflatable assault course that tested the stamina (and courage) of all!
