Learning Beyond the Classroom
Our School is committed to providing a wide range of enrichment activities for all students. These provide opportunities for our students to learn outside the classroom; these visits both supplement and enrich the curriculum and offer our students some life-changing experiences.
For example, the Year 9 trip to Ypres when students visit the graves of Old Boys is particularly poignant. Equally life affirming is the bi-annual Expedition where our older students are involved in projects with disadvantaged students in countries in the developing world. Educational visits are therefore an integral part of our school year and all students can expect to leave school regularly to enhance their learning.
As students progress through the school and begin to develop specific interests, we pride ourselves in offering more ambitious opportunities to travel, these are designed to challenge and test their resilience and give them experiences that would not be possible within the school environment. These include Geography Field Trips to Barcelona and Iceland, Biology Field Trips, German, French and Spanish Exchanges, Sports Tours to New Zealand, Barbados, Lanzarote, Holland and Malta, Music Tours to Italy, History trips to Berlin and Paris.
Whilst many trips are designed to support the curriculum there are also a wide range of opportunities for sports and music tours, theatre trips, and many other cultural visits. Our musicians playing for The Worshipful Company of Coopers at the Lord Mayors Banquet is certainly a favourite. There is a comprehensive menu of the trips and activities on offer across the years; there are clear guidelines as to whether the visits and activities are curricular, support the curriculum or are optional. This will afford parents and students the opportunity to plan ahead.
We see the development of leadership skills being an important facet of educating our young people; we aim to build on the good work currently undertaken in primary schools and provide opportunities across the years. Our students work alongside the Havering Sports Collective and volunteer in primary schools, support festivals both locally and nationally for example The London Youth Games. The Year 7 trips to Bowles Outdoor Activity Centre is certainly a highlight of the year and for many the first time students have been away from home for an extended period and are having to look after themselves. Similarly in Year 8 the Modern Foreign Language trips at the end of the year not only develop their spoken language skills but are designed to give students greater independence.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a growing area of opportunity at school; we currently offer the Bronze and Silver Awards but hope that in due course students will start their Gold Awards. Employers and universities value the scheme so greatly – it is undoubtedly true that success in the programme builds confidence, determination and self-esteem, giving students the soft skills that are needed for success in other areas, as well as specific areas of expertise that will stay with them for life.
An introduction to the ‘world of work’ through a range of experiences and placements across the key stages empowers our young people to make informed decisions on their career pathway post 16 or 18. Our proximity to the City gives us access to many of the top companies not just in London but globally. Through these opportunities Coopers’ students develop many of the discrete skills needed by employers in today’s economic markets.
In conclusion the programme of trips and activities has been carefully developed to give Coopers Coborn students as many opportunities as possible to become global citizens in our ever changing world. Please take a look at the video below to see some of the opportunities that our students benefit from.