Welcome

What’s in a name? Co-curriculum, or Optional Extras?

Many schools like Dame Allan’s provide a wide range of enriching things for our pupils to do beyond their academic lessons. This has been true for many years, and Allanians will almost always reflect on happy memories of things they did together with their peers in drama, music, dance, Duke of Edinburgh, sport or a host of other activities and visits. Very often they will also make a point of appreciating the adults who went with them or made these things happen. I take this as proof of the wise words of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:

“Young people grow to fill the spaces we create for them.”

We have seen more pointedly than ever during and after the Covid pandemic that we all, and especially young people, need opportunities to work and play alongside others in purposeful, fulfilling ways. Our response at Dame Allan’s when we were first able to return to working together was to arrange the Big Bounce Back, a programme of activity that refocused us all on social interactions and team working again.

So what is so new about doing things outside the classroom then?

There are some brand new activities and visits pupils can get involved in, but actually that’s not the main issue. We are now making a sea change in our approach to all this wonderful activity we do by giving the co-curriculum a much bigger emphasis. Co-curriculum, not extra-curriculum, because we believe these are not optional extras in the way we choose mudflaps or a fancy satnav on a car if we feel like it, but rather a whole curriculum of activity that partners with the academic curriculum in order to produce the personal development we aim for in all our young people. School fees ultimately pay for both essential stands of the way Dame Allan’s works. Opting out of the co-curriculum, or not engaging fully with some aspect of it would be like deciding not to do half the subjects on offer in our academic curriculum - hardly great value for money! The co-curriculum therefore is not a bunch of optional extras that some people choose, but something that we want all pupils to benefit from. These are not just good, worthy things that are good for pupils, just because we say they are; well researched, scholarly articles in quality journals prove that this is the case. The work of Prof. Peter Clough on mental toughness, or the University of Northampton study on the beneficial outcomes of being a cadet are just two examples. Those who want to know more about this are welcome to see more detail by following the link below. 

Dame Allan’s has in the past scored extremely highly on pupil academic development and also on personal development. As we seek to maintain these very high standards, we are explicitly linking together our 2 equal curricula, and looking to see high performance learning (HPL) in everything we do. Inquisitiveness, resilience, imagination, critical thinking, self-evaluation and a host of other HPL indicators can be developed just as well in a history lesson as in an orchestra rehearsal, in a chemistry practical as in D of E expedition. 

The co-curriculum is for everyone then. It is provided for all our benefit, and there are good reasons to believe it makes for better well being and social skills in all our young people. Optional extras….? Surely not.   

Mr P Wildsmith, Director of Co-Curriculum

Reasons and Research: Pupil Development outside the Classroom.