What is Challenge Club
The Challenge Club is a programme aimed at our most academic students in years 7 to 9 and aims to:
- Prepare students for different styles of teaching in Higher Education
- Provide the inspiration to attend a leading university
- Ensure the opportunities they receive rival the best state and independent schools.
- Challenge our most able students academically
- Ensure our students have the right information to make the right decisions for Higher Education
We select our students through a mix of academic data (CATS/ SATS/ KS3 Bands) as well as teacher recommendations. It is a great opportunity to be selected for the Challenge Club and parents and students should be fully aware of the requirements of the programme when initially selected and any concerns by parents should be flagged up to Academic Mentors in the first instance. The Challenge Club has 3 main elements as listed below, all designed to challenge and reward students:
- Challenge Club Seminars
- Academic Research Project
- Challenge Club Passport
How do we keep in contact?
We expect our Challenge Club students to be proactive and independent in keeping in contact with their lead teacher for deadlines and information.
Messages will be sent to students’ school email address, Insight messages to parents, tutor daily bulletins and finally the Challenge Club noticeboard which is located between the main hall and the languages classrooms.
What rewards are involved in the Challenge Club?
Students in the Challenge Club are certainly rewarded through the opportunities given to them through the seminars, the passport and the year 9 university trip. Once the Academic Research Project is completed and marks submitted, students and parents will then be invited in to attend a Presentation Evening in the Spring Term. On this evening students will receive their certificates and feedback and any students achieving a ‘First’ will receive an additional prize.
After the presentations students and parents have the opportunity to look at all of the work produced as well as listen to some sample presentations. In the summer term the students then participate in the Challenge Club Passport and once more are able to achieve different levels of recognition and prizes for their efforts.