Student Experience

Enrichment

Woven into the curriculum to complement academic studies and offer real-life learning experiences, our broad and enviable enrichment programme aims to equip every student with the skills, qualities, and attributes necessary for them to flourish in their future professional and personal lives.

Our comprehensive extracurricular offer enables growth and development beyond the classroom, enhances our broad curriculum and supports learning at all levels.

Sports

Sports is a key strength of our school and is well facilitated with onsite pitches, a fully equipped fitness centre and muti court sports hall. Our PE department offers a number of clubs and competing teams throughout the year, including athletics, football, rugby, tennis, netball, table tennis, basketball, circuit and weight training, and many more.

Music

We recognise and value the importance of music to the personal and emotional development of our young people. As such, we offer an expansive range of clubs alongside the opportunity to participate in performance opportunities through our Gospel Choir and Orchestra.

Students are frequently invited to showcase their talents at school and local community events, alongside taking the lead in preparing and delivering music for mass and religious services.

In addition, subsidised music lessons to all students in Years 7 and 8 allow them to gain accredited grade qualifications. Students can choose from the following instruments to be taught by a specialist instrumental teacher in addition to their music lessons:

• Electric Guitar
• Double Bass
• Singing
• Acoustic Guitar
• Violin
• Brass
• Bass Guitar
• Drums
• Woodwind
• Piano
• Keyboard
• Cello.

Model United Nations

Three times a year the school sends a delegation of students from Year 9 through to Sixth Form to take part in inter-school Model United Nations conferences. Simulating the real-life procedures of the United Nations, students represent a country and will have to convince other countries in their committee to listen to their point of view. Conferences run over one or two days and enable participants to hone skills of advocacy, negotiation and diplomacy. 

Trips

We firmly believe that enrichment linked to the curriculum yields passion, engagement and commitment in subjects. As such, departments aim to provide all students across the school with the opportunity to attend off-site enrichment excursions, promoting engagement and scholarship for the subject and allowing them to apply their knowledge into practical situations.

Wider Horizons 

As part of our annual Activities Week, all students in Years 7 to 10 can embark on residential trips and engaging enrichment experiences. Throughout this week, the curriculum is suspended, and students broaden their educational experience through a variety of projects and excursions. In previous years, students have ventured within Britain to London and Torquay, and further afield to Lake Garda in Italy.

Clubs

A wide variety of extra-curricular clubs is offered before, during and after school. Ranging from subject clubs to Mindfulness, Bible Study to Fitness, Model United Nations to Social Justice, our ever-expanding offer continues to grow. Download a copy of our termly timetable for a full breakdown of our offer.

Termly Clubs Timetable

Leadership and Voice

Our school has had a long tradition of valuing the thoughts and opinions of the entire community, especially the learners who are central to all we do.

Student Council

Students at Bishop Douglass can join our Student Council, a valuable community group that allows students to develop their skill set, including their diplomacy, communication and negotiation skills.

The Student Council helps students share ideas, interests and any concerns with staff. Through elected form class representatives, students discuss topics set in advance, and feedback from these discussions is bought to the Student Council meetings, which are chaired by the Head Boy and Girl and their deputies.

Previous meetings have focused on community matters such as rewards, spirituality, numeracy and literacy. Feedback from the meetings is shared in assemblies, on the school noticeboard and with the Senior Leadership team, with key actions from meetings being implemented.

Peer Mentoring

Peer Mentoring makes a valuable contribution to the overall ethos of Bishop Douglass School and pastoral support systems.  Peer support helps to increase personal and social development within individuals; it can also provide additional support, encouragement on aspects of schoolwork, help to build confidence, self-esteem and encourage a more positive participation in school life.

Sixth Form students apply to become Peer Mentors and training takes place at the beginning of the autumn term. Peer mentors provide younger students with an initial, accessible point of contact from which to seek information, support and build life skills in a language and manner that is both familiar and acceptable.

Peer mentors provide one-to-one support to a student. Meetings are held every week during form time when they review the following week’s discussion and targets, and set targets for the following week.

We are delighted to share how our students have benefited from mentoring:

• Help with homework/organising skills/study skills
• Listening and responding to the needs of the students by the students
• Creating a caring atmosphere that impacts positively on relationships
• Reducing bullying - reducing lateness
• Providing positive role models within the student body
• Resolving minor problems through mediation
• Enhancing citizenship by providing support and guidance from older students.

Celebrations