At St George’s, we believe that a truly excellent academy is about more than academic achievement alone: it is also about developing a passion for learning, a capacity for independent and critical thinking, self-awareness and resilience, self-confidence without arrogance and genuine interests that extend beyond the confines of the classroom.
At St George’s we provide a varied and full programme of co-curricular electives and extra-curricular electives. Sports, arts and academic enrichment are particular strengths while other clubs and societies cater for more esoteric interests such as debating, public speaking and fencing. Each pupil in Year 7 to 9 has access to this provision to ensure that they experience a fulfilling and enriching curriculum.
Electives are specific to St George’s Academy and these are something that we are very proud of as we feel that they help to create not just academic but well-rounded pupils. Electives are what can be described as after school clubs which take place within the timetabled curriculum and provide the students with an incredibly broad range of activities more attuned to a private school and would not normally be possible to deliver in a normal state school setting.
HOW DO ELECTIVES WORK?
Every day, all pupils in years 7 to 9 will spend 30 minutes taking part in selected co-curricular electives/academic support or big lectures. The 30 minute session can take many forms: whether learning something new that the pupils would not typically come across within the curriculum or having a short lecture based on feedback from progress periods assessments.
Electives will be selected for pupils, but over the course of each year pupils will experience a broad and balanced range. Electives are also the time in the academy day when we protect it to ensure that pupils who have been unable to be present, through no fault of their own, are able to catch up.
Pupils will change their co-curricular electives each progress period cycle in a range of enriching activities as part of our autonomous approach. The co-curricular electives will cover the range of knowledge, character, culture and spirituality. In addition to this, all pupils will have the opportunity to take part in a number of sports electives each evening.
Co-curricular electives (CCE) include a range of enrichment activities: public speaking, drama, photography, chess, STEM and music – some of which offer accreditation upon completion. Pupils also get the opportunity to participate in weekly games, which involves competitive team sports.