Personal Development at Stokesley School

Please scroll through the booklet below to see what we offer students in terms of their personal development.

What's enrichment?

A better question would be ‘What isn’t enrichment?. The LIFE curriculum also encompasses all of the trips and visits that students take part in. Whether that’s going bowling, skiing, to the theatre or climbing after school one day, attending a theatre production in school or learning how to do CPR with the ambulance service, this part of the curriculum is sure to stay with students for the rest of their lives.

Some of the enrichment activities that we offer are a direct part of your LIFE lessons. Some examples of these can be seen below:

YOLO - Year 9

Year 9 students are visited each year by the Invisible Man theatre company. Students watch an hour-long performance and then come back to take part in workshops which really help them to think about the risks that are a part of our day-to-day lives.

Restart a Heart - Year 8

Year 8 students each year get an opportunity to take part in Restart a Heart Day with the British Heart Foundations. Students come down to the hall in class groups and are given a 30 minute session where they learn how to do CPR, and why it’s so important. Each year we get feedback from students and parents about just how valuable these skills are, and just how important it is that our young people learn them.

The Prime Agency - Year 7

Just this year we’ve started working alongside the Prime Agency who send singers into schools to perform gigs and then talk to young people about the issues that they face. This year Bronnie came into school to perform to year 7 and then delivered a talk on body image and resilience. Feedback from students was 100% positive and this is definitely something that we’ll be repeating in years to come.

Enrichment across the curriculum

Enrichment doesn’t just happen in our LIFE lessons. It’s everywhere you look at Stokesley school and that’s because it’s so important that we give our students opportunities to experience the world outside of the classroom below. The table below shows just some of the things that we offer to students across the school.

Subject/area	Enrichment opportunities
Drama	Theatre Practitioner workshop (y10) Ks4 theatre trips Performance opportunities including Monologue evening and production Entry and performance at competitions including Music for Youth (performing at the Sage Gateshead)
MFL	Lunchtime languages club (Spanish/ French/ German/ Japanese) Virtual Exchange programme Trust-wide cultural research competitions German pen-pal project & cross-Trust Pasch Programme Paris Homestay and other trips about planned when restrictions allow
Physics	Physics olympiad stretch and challenge competition for Y10-Y13 from oxford uni Evening online lectures advertised to Y10-Y13 Evening online lectures advertised to Y12 & Y13 University summer school promoted to year 12 (3-5 days) Support programme promoted to Year 12 Northumbria Uni work experience promoted to Y12 Annual christmas lecture (online last year) Y12 & Y13 5 day work experience promoted to Y12 Programme to widen participation from Cambridge Uni promoted to year 12 Isaac Physics mentoring scheme - online mentoring from Cambridge Uni Virtual Masterclasses - Year 11 & 13 - Issac Physics
Music	Performance opportunities - concerts and events Use of practice rooms for Y9 and above music students - bands able to form and rehearse Promotion of outside school clubs, courses, festivals and events in the local area Peripatetic music lessons - vocal and instrumental
PE	Inter and intra school competitive sports fixtures. Lunchtime and after school clubs to develop skills/fitness/social skills outside of the classroom. Guest speakers e.g. Sky Living For Sport recent guest speaker include team GB boxers to talk about the training, diet, competition. Student Leadership opportunities where sixth formers can come down to team teach with staff (currently happening with swimming, netball, multiskills and rugby)
Mathematics	UKMT Maths Challenge (Junior, Intermediate, Senior) which covers all Year groups who are eligible to take part. Maths Feast Team challenges Christmas Maths Lectures at Teesside University Year 9 Maths Trip to London - June/July (one night) (Royal Bank of England visit, Science Museum/Wonderlabs and West End show) Year 10 Maths Trip to London - June/July (two nights) (Emirates Airline Exhibition: museum tour, workshop in cockpit of an aeroplane on forces, fly your own aircraft simulator experience and cable car flight above the River Thames. Visit to Thorpe Park - the science behind roller coasters and maths behind the business. Science Museum/Wonderlabs. Bowling and West End show) Year 7-9 enrichment weeks - final week before Christmas break and summer break. Enrich the students with extended problem solving tasks/career focus tasks linked to the learning from lessons. Sixth Form lesson support and involvement.
Philosophy and Ethics	Spirited Arts Competition in year 8
Technology	Arkwright Engineering scholarships- an opportunity to gain a prestigious scholarship for any year 11 students wishing to pursue engineering, computing or a technical career at a leadership level, and taking A’ Level Maths at Stokesley 6th form college. Support and guidance given throughout the application process, coaching for the aptitude test, and developing skills for the interview.
Bridge	Yr10 off site visits include - Beamish, Whitby, Fountains Abbey (My Community/Communication skills), Guisborough Forest, Horse Riding, Sunderland Wall (Health & Wellbeing) College tours and tasters (World of Work) (Middlesbrough, Askham Bryan, Redcar & Cleveland, CCAD), Orienteering, Environmental issues -plant a tree,(My Environment), Budgeting, Money management, Health & Safety (Independent Living) Yr10 working with external agencies - North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, Middlesbrough F.C. Foundation (Enterprise). Yr11 BTEC Award L2 - Fire and Rescue service in the Community with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. Event Planning (GCSE) Opportunity to further enhance Team working, problem solving and communication skills through the organisation of structured events. Events could include - Enterprise activity for Charity, Charity visits/volunteering, Celebration Event, Cake sale, Year 6 Transition Treasure Trail, Planning of a Music Event at Middlesbrough Football Club (with MFC Foundation).
English	Creative writing club offered on Wednesday afternoons; Debate society on Friday lunchtimes to develop opportunities for high-quality spoken language; Poetry by Heart - to learn a poem by heart Quiet study catch-up available after school on Wednesdays; Readathon and reading challenges; Dungeons and Dragons club.
Biology	Lectures and courses that are age appropriate e.g. Nanomedicine: from cancer to COVID-19 Registration, Tue 22 Jun 2021 at 17:00 Y12 and Y13 google classrooms for health related careers - again full of opportunities for students to engage in a wide range of super curricular activities which are related to medical and veterinary careers. Biology A level field trip to the Cranedale Centre Arete trust Biology essay competition Advertising of Biology related courses throughout Y12 and Y13 eg this week Biology in action lecture days for interested students.
Art	Students have their artwork displayed around school. Students that express an interest in the pottery wheel are offered a pottery wheel session outside of lesson time. The art department is open at break and lunch and we routinely have 20+ students carrying out independent learning, being more ambitious or just having a quiet, safe place to sit.
Geography	Year 7 Eston Moor Geog/Tutor field trip Year 8 flood defence fieldwork Year 9 Urban models fieldwork Year 10 Newcastle regeneration fieldwork Year 10 Redcar coastal and Yarm river flooding fieldwork Year 10 Bewerley Park residential Year 12 Seaham and Newcastle fieldwork Year 12 Hull and Holderness A Level fieldwork Year 10/11 Italy enrichment trip - application of KS3/4 K&U Yr 12 Politics plan a trip to Houses of Parliament Fair Trade competition Yr 7-10 Earth Day activities Planned sustainability Conference Yr 7 to 13

If you have any questions at all about enrichment at Stokesley school, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Mrs Fox (l.fox@stokesleyschool.org)