Co-Curriculum
Intent
The Barlow is a Catholic school: our Core Values of ‘Serve’, ‘Pray’, ‘Achieve’ and ‘Respect’ are at the heart of everything we do. Alongside our extensive curriculum, we provide our pupils with a wide range of co-curricular activities, trips and events to provide opportunities help young people to explore and express their character and build the skills they need for resilience, empathy and employability.
Co-curriculum (including extra-curriculum activities) refers to the activities and learning experiences that take place in school alongside the academic curriculum. Academic attainment is a key element of school life and it is complemented by a broad and enriching co-curriculum to provide a rounded education.
The purpose of any Co-curricular Event, Educational Visit and Activity at The Barlow are:
To improve academic performance
Some pupils worry that participating in co-curricular activities may take away too much time from their schoolwork, thus affecting their grades; however, co-curricular activities can actually improve your grades and your outlook on school in general. Participating in activities you are passionate about can increase your brain function, help you concentrate and manage your time better, all of which can contribute to higher grades. Studies have been conducted on the relationship between co-curricular activities and academic performance, and the conclusions being that pupils who participate in them have higher grades, more positive attitudes toward school and higher academic aspirations.
To explore interests and create broader perspectives
When you participate in multiple different activities, you’ll get the opportunity to explore a range of interests and unlock passions you never knew you had.
To increase self-esteem
The more you achieve success through activities you’re passionate about, the more your self-confidence will improve. Once your confidence improves, you’ll be more open to taking risks in all aspects of your life, not just the things you are good at.
To provide social opportunities and experiences students may not have been given the opportunity before
Each co-curricular activity you engage in provides you with another opportunity to expand your social network. Some opportunities offered to you might be activities, events or trips you have never had the opportunity to experience before.
To provide essential life skills such as, goal setting, teamwork, time management, prioritisation, problem solving, analytical thinking, leadership, public speaking
The more you push yourself in your co-curricular endeavours, the more you’ll develop these skills.
To support CV and College applications
Make your CV or College application stand out from the rest. Show them all the skills you have built that you will need for resilience, empathy and employability.
Definitions:
- Educational Event – an in-school activity that takes place outside of the classroom or timetabled lesson.
- Educational Visit – an activity that takes place away from school.
- Co-Curricular Activity – a regular activity that takes place in school which is not part of students timetabled lessons.
Implementation
Alongside the school’s ethos and taught curriculum there is strong provision for co-curricular activities. Our programme is designed to focus on high quality activities across a wide spectrum of different domains which enable our pupils to participate over time, learn and improve in their chosen activities and compete or perform as appropriate.
Co Curricular PE - 2024-2025
PE Extra Curricular Activities - Summer timetable 2025
EVOLVE (the clubs and trips management system used by your child’s school) includes a Consent Module which schools can use to seek online consent from parents and carers for activities. Each consent form is built by the school and sent to parents online via EVOLVE.
Too create an EVOLVE account follow the link below: