Extracurricular activities enrich children’s experience and allow them to develop their talents and interests.

The practicalities of providing these opportunities are, however, a challenge for most schools i.e. reliance on teachers’ goodwill to run the activities, the shortage of time for activities at lunchtimes, the travel problems involved if children stay on after school for activities.

At Yavneh College, we overcome these problems by timetabling extracurricular activities for KS3 pupils into the school day as a 40-minute ‘Enrichment Programme’ immediately after lunch on Mondays to Thursdays, thus ensuring that all pupils and teachers are involved. Each term, pupils select new activities from the list of enrichment activities. Pupils therefore take 12 enrichment activities each year.

Most of the activities are mixed-age i.e. available to pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9. Having mixed-age activities fosters communication and friendship between the year groups, which in turn helps to reduce the likelihood of bullying.

One of the most popular extracurricular activities at Yavneh College is the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Participants receive expedition training from JLGB, supported by Yavneh teachers, and pursue their own volunteering, physical and skills interests. The purposeful, wide-ranging and independent nature of the DofE programme, and the leadership and teamwork skills which it gives participants, makes it highly regarded by universities and employers. At any one time, over 150 of our pupils and students from Years 9 to 13, are busy working on a Bronze, Silver or Gold level DofE, enjoying new experiences; making new friends; building their self-confidence; and honing or discovering new talents.

Currently, the Enrichment Programme offers the following activities: