At The King’s School we believe everyone can find their niche and will be able to develop an interest or passion. In addition to the classroom lessons we provide a wide array of clubs and activities that students are encouraged to attend.
Unlike many schools we have maintained a lunch break of an hour’s duration in order to facilitate as many lunchtime clubs as possible. Every day there are wide array of sports and dance clubs which will vary depending on the time of year. These cater for a very wide range of interests and abilities. In addition there are a range of other clubs which will change on a termly basis. Some clubs we have run recently include:

• Musical Theatre Club
• School Band
• Miniappella Club
• Tabletop Club
• Computer Science Club
• Radio Club
• Languages Club
• Writing and Book Club
• Film Club
• Choir
• STEM Club
• MAD Group
• Mindfulness and Meditation Club
• Raspberry Pie Club
• Yarners
• Lego Club
• Orchestra

Project Week

Every year in July we hold a Project Week which is often a real highlight of a student’s time at The King’s School. There are a wide range of projects that develop a variety of skills and abilities. These range from full week projects such as Ardeche, Paris, Barcelona, London, Theatre Week, Technology Week, Out and About, Haven Banks and Horse Riding. There are also a range of day projects such as adrenaline-based activities, visits and school-based activities.

Ten Tors and Duke of Edinburgh

The school has a very strong tradition in outdoor and adventurous activities. For many years the school has entered a number of teams in the Ten Tors Challenge. This involves a real commitment from the students over a number of preparatory walks before they take on the challenge of walking 35 miles, 45 miles or 55 miles over a weekend in May. Ten Tors is an amazing experience and involves approximately 4000 young people from the south-west and beyond. Students learn specific skills and abilities to do with survival in the outdoors such as navigation, campcraft and endurance alongside other transferable skills and abilities such as tenacity, resilience, teamwork, leadership and much more.
Duke of Edinburgh is another enrichment option which many of our students take on. It has a positive impact on young people’s lives, in terms of their personal development and employability, and on wider society, from charities gaining active and engaged volunteers to businesses hiring work-ready recruits.
There are four aspects that the students work on:

• Volunteering
• Physical
• Skills
• Expedition

Step-up and Aspire

Step-up and Aspire is an integrated partnership between King’s “Aspire” programme and the “Step-up” programme that is run by New College, Oxford. It is available to students in Years 11-13 and recognises that strong applicants to competitive universities tend to have explored their chosen subject through enrichment activities outside the classroom. We call this sort of activity ‘super-curricular’, as it builds on and enhances what students are studying in school. The Aspire side of the programme is therefore primarily designed to provide a vehicle for ‘super-curricular exploration’ within a school community of like-minded individuals, as well as develop key skills relating to research, extended writing and oracy. You can see examples of this type of super-curricular activity in the Aspire Academic Journal, which is produced annually by Year 12 and can be downloaded via the links below. In parallel to the Aspire programme, students also take part in New College's Step-Up Programme (www.new.ox.ac.uk/step-up), which is designed to support state-school students throughout Year 11, 12 and 13. It attempts to ensure that students recognise Oxbridge as a realistic and achievable option for them in the future and that they are fully equipped and supported to make a competitive application. Crucially, it is a sustained-contact scheme: students have regular, consistent contact with the College's Outreach team over three years. Each year, 45 Year 11 students from King’s are selected to take part in the Step-Up programme and anyone in Year 12 can join in with the weekly Aspire sessions.