Extra-Curricular Activities
As humans, we learn and grow from new experiences. To ensure all of our students have access to the widest range of learning opportunities, we provide an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities.
Broad Education
From maths club to combined cadets forces (CCF), from choir to our language lab, from the badminton to rock band, our range of over 20 extra-curricular choices offer a truly broad education for pupils at DEC. Students get the chance to explore something new, discover a passion or purpose they never knew existed, develop deeper relationships with peers and school staff, and get to practice their character virtues in settings that are completely different from what they are used to. The performing and creative arts faculty offer weekly after school clubs where students can enjoy developing their skills in dance, drama and music. Students are also given regular opportunities to take part in performances; last year students performed at the DEC Oscars event and the Christmas concert. There is also an extensive peripatetic music timetable for students to opt into, covering most instruments and voice.
Sporting Activities
Students also have access to a wide range of sports clubs and facilities covering a multitude of sports. These are open to all students – we encourage all students to participate, regardless of ability. Teams represent the academy in competitions across the region. Here at DEC we also widen student’s cultural and social experience through an extensive trips programme both city wide, nationally and internationally; including theatre trips, workshops, art exhibitions and performing arts shows. Recent highlights include the Ski trip to the Alps, New York, Normandy, Houses of Parliament as well as some more local destinations. In summary, there really is something for everyone.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Here at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School, we offer our students the opportunity to complete their Duke of Edinburgh’s award at Bronze and Silver level. Students can start the award from the beginning of the year 9 academic year and can start Silver from year 10.
The award challenges students across four sectional areas on physical, skill, volunteering and expedition, where students are required to develop their personal skill set, work together as a team and take themselves out of their comfort zone. There are set time periods for the completion of each section, being either 6 months to 12months depending on previous qualification completion or the level of the award. The award requires full commitment from each individual with all training for expedition provided by expert, qualified, leaders in school as well as allowing students the freedom to build and complete their sections in their own time. There is a small charge for the award, which goes towards administration, award registration and the costs of camping. Additional costs for clothing are required but all students receive a discount card from the awarding body to support with this cost.
This is a fantastic opportunity to gain a globally renowned award that enhances a CV considerably, as well make life long memories.
Drama Club
Drama club is a weekly club at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, open to all year groups. During the club students take part in drama games, developing confidence and getting to know each other. We also use our imaginations and our bodies during role play and improvisation to create fun scenes and stories. We create performances as a group with the input from students which gives an opportunity for every student to have a key role in the scene or play.
Throughout the year students learn and develop new acting skills, with a performance to show off their new skills. Drama club perform at least twice a year. Last year we performed a version of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. The key objective of Drama club is to have fun and enjoy creating something together.
Maths Club
Maths club focuses on practicing problem-solving skills in maths, working through some of the most challenging questions set by UKMT Maths Challenge. It helps students go over and above their usual studies and apply their knowledge to more abstract problems. This will lead to four students (two from Year 8, two from Year 9) being selected to represent the school at the UKMT Maths Challenge Team Olympiad. Students from Years 7-9 are all welcome.
Music Club
Through the music department, students are given the opportunity to take part in numerous extra-curricular clubs, these include choir, samba ensemble, woodwind ensemble and rock band. Our students are also given the opportunity to book out one of our numerous music rooms to rehearse both before and after school.
Dame Elizabeth Cadbury also offers instrumental lessons in flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, drums, guitar, violin and keyboard.
All our students are given the opportunity to perform in concerts and other events both in and outside school. These have included performances at Symphony Hall, The Mac and the Botanical Gardens. The music department works closely with our drama and dance clubs to put on performances during the academic school year.
Sports
Our vast array of extra-curricular clubs rotate on a termly basis so pupils get the chance to develop and improve their understanding of skills and tactics in a variety of different sports throughout the year.
Our extra-curricular provision for all pupils provides them with the opportunity to compete amongst themselves through regular inter-house tournaments. We also compete with other schools in the local area in inter-school competitions, where selected pupils get the chance to represent Dame Elizabeth Cadbury in fixtures and competitions. Regular weekly fixtures occur in football, netball, basketball and indoor cricket for both boys and girls in KS3 and KS4.
We also enter the regional Sainsbury’s School Games competitions in badminton and handball. We had some big successes last year where our KS4 boys’ team claimed silver medal in the badminton competition and our year 9 girls also won silver in the handball tournament. A great achievement by both teams in this regional competition against all schools in Birmingham.
STEM Club
In the previous academic year, we ran a range of STEM activities, both in lessons and as extra-curricular clubs. In lessons, we had visits from The University of Newcastle and the University of Birmingham Outreach teams who worked with our students for Chemistry and Physics.
In addition to a weekly STEM club (including projects such as building rollercoasters and making indicators out of fruit), we have also had trips to the Big Bang Fair and the Lapworth Geology museum.
Opportunities for the year ahead include work with the STEM Ambassador programme, further outreach from universities and opportunities to visit the Big Bang Fair. We are looking for students across all year groups who are interested in seeing Science and other STEM subjects in action, especially those who are interested in careers in these fields.
