Here at Ark we believe that we should provide much more than just the academic subjects. We offer a wide range of enrichments, both during and after school.

All pupils participate in an enrichment session each Friday; when we were designing the options from which each child can choose, pupils were polled to determine what they would be interested in. It was important to us that children can engage in activities – of their own choosing and direction, as far as possible – that offered them chances to try out experiences that are fun, enriching and useful.

Our guiding principles were:

• To build confidence and self-esteem
• To develop teamwork skills
• To explore and experiment with different forms of art, crafts or STEM activities
• To learn new skills
• To solve problems
• To experience activities that would not be available to them

The range of activities varies each term but can include: origami, Italian, sports, junk modelling, drama, debate and more.

Examples of typical enrichment options

After school clubs

Everyday we host a variety of after school clubs for the children, hosted by our own staff or external providers. The offer can change each term but includes activites as diverse as yogo, sewing, a range of sports, drama and STEM.

Themed Weeks

We hold four themed weeks per year, one during each term. In Autumn we hold an Art Week, in Spring a STEM week and in Summer we hold a mental health and PE week. These weeks enable pupils to immerse themselves in the subject areas and develop a great sense of community. During these weeks, pupils are involved in class and whole school projects; they go on trips and meet visitors to the school; we discuss potential career paths within the field and celebrate our successes in assemblies.

Outdoor Learning

Ark Academy’s 50 Things- a list loosely based on the National Trust Campaign 50 things to do before you are 11 ¾  - provides experiences beyond the classroom, not by adopting a tokenistic forest school label, but by creating a sustainable approach to outdoor learning embedded through whole-school involvement and enthusiastic staff and pupils.

Pathways

We provide a pathways programme which gives the pupils opportunities to consider their school path as well as paths into future education and a career of their choice. This includes university visits, guest speakers and careers days.

Student Voice

At Ark Academy we believe that every child should have the opportunity to share their views on all aspects of school life. We want to create a school environment where all children feel valued and respected and play an active role in the decisions that affect their learning.

School Parliament

School Parliament members have been elected by their peers to represent the views of their classes and to help in decision making about aspects of school life. We meet regularly to discuss ideas of how the school could be improved and what we can do to help.

So far this year, School Parliament have helped to promote our school values by running a poster competition, helped fundraise by running a stall at our Christmas Fair and helped to decide attendance rewards!

Here are the School Parliament on their recent trip to the House of Parliament. We got to learn all about the history of Parliament and see the House of Lords!

Eco Warriors

Children who were passionate about helping their environment, were elected by their peers to create a group called the Eco Warriors. The Eco Warriors aim to raise awareness about how to care for our environment and promote ways for the school to be more eco-friendly.

This year, the Eco Warriors have gone litter picking in the local area, created and sold eco-bottles to reduce single use plastics and made recycled Christmas decorations to raise money at our Christmas Fair! They still have lots more ideas for how to reduce the impact our school has on the environment so watch this space!