Experience Guarantee and Enrichment Statement

At Calderstones, we value educating the whole child and see our curriculum stretching beyond just the traditional academic subjects. We see the value in providing as many culturally enriching experiences as possible for students in order to ensure that all students have access to a full and balanced educational experience.

The Covid pandemic put pay to all but online extra-curricular learning and as a response, we’ve worked hard in the 2021/22 academic year to try and plug the gap in the type of experiences the students might have missed out on during the pandemic. We have:

• Re-launched a full timetable of lunchtime and afterschool clubs which have everything from ‘football stats club’ to ‘foreign cinema club’ included. The timetable is up-dated every term with new clubs and activities and is available from form tutors. For parents it can be found here. Parents can also see a list of lunchtime and after-school clubs on the ‘clubs’ section on Edulink.
• Provided a number of opportunities for subject based trips for example this year in Geography a group of Year 8s have enjoyed a day of seed planting, while the whole of Year 9 enjoyed our annual ‘stock market’ challenge curtesy of the Business and Enterprise Department. Subject based trips may go out every year or may be offered on an ad-hoc basis depending on what opportunities arise. These trips may be aimed at whole year groups, single classes or cohorts of students, depending on the nature of the opportunity. Students and parents should keep a close eye on school communications for more details.
• Launched the ‘Calderstones Experience Guarantee see below for more details

Calderstones Experience Guarantee

Our most exciting extra-curricular initiative launched in the 2021/22 academic year is our ‘Calderstones Experience Guarantee’. Although we’re proud of our track record of offering a variety of extra-curricular experiences for students were also aware that many of these are ‘opt-in’ or by their nature only suitable for certain students/ cohorts. We believe that ALL students should have access to such experiences so this year, starting with year 7 but eventually growing to year 8 and 9, all students will be offered certain extra-curricular experiences as part of their time at Calderstones.

Currently we are working on plans for all Year 10 students to embark on at least part of the D of E Award also. Inclusivity is the most important feature of the Calderstones Experience Guarantee. We believe no student should fall through the cracks in this or any other element of their education regardless of any barriers that might stand in their way.

These experiences will group together to form an internal award (similar to D of E). Students will have one experience per half term and will be allowed to reflect on that experience the following half term in PSHE time to fully consider what they have gained and how they have developed as a person. Students will be able to reach different levels of the award based on their interaction with the wider life of the school.

The highest levels of the award are reserved for those students who complete all elements of the guarantee throughout their time at Calderstones. At the end of Year 11 students will be presented with a portfolio of their reflections on the experience and certificates confirming the level they reached each year and the overall level they have reached on the Guarantee. A typical school year on the Guarantee would look like this:

Further information on the Guarantee can be found here.

If you’d like any further information on any of the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Mr J Cassidy (Experiental Education and Enrichment Co-ordinator) or Mrs S York (Assistant Head Teacher).