At St Joseph’s College, the co-curriculum is a fundamental element of our approach to holistic education. While academic interests often begin in the classroom, it is often outside of that formal setting that these interests can evolve into life-long passions.
Co-curricular Activities (CCAs) are an integral part of our students’ education, whether it be to introduce them to new opportunities or to extend and challenge their existing abilities. We also believe that our thriving co-curriculum harnesses our 5 C’s that we aim to instil in all our students: Commitment, Collaboration, Confidence, Compassion and Communication. Through their active participation, students will stretch boundaries and be exposed to new challenges and experiences developing their cognitive, social, and interpersonal skills necessary to succeed in this rapidly changing world.
The Co-curriculum is a cohesive whole College programme, from Prep through to the Senior School, providing an opportunity for development and growth in student learning right from their younger years to adulthood. To ensure that students have access to a diverse range of ideas and experiences, the Co-curriculum is spearheaded by our four Societies: The Arts; Sports & Outdoor Learning; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics); HaLE (Humanities & Language Enrichment). Students will have the opportunity to investigate subject areas beyond what the standard curriculum will allow, and work with fellow students who share similar interests.
The Arts Society
The Arts have a profound place in all our lives. They inspire us, foster creativity, goodness, and beauty. The Arts bring us joy, help us express our values, build bridges between cultures and form a fundamental component of our College community, strengthening our students both socially and educationally. At St Joseph’s College, we strive to foster all students’ creativity and allow them to achieve their full artistic potential.
The Music Department is proud to offer an extensive and diverse range of music Co-curricular Activities (CCAs) that cater to students’ talents and interests. We encourage all students to get involved and we try to provide musical activities to interest everyone. Playing music has the natural quality of bringing people together to celebrate passion, develop skill, and create memorable moments. We pride ourselves on our commitment to provide high quality musical experiences for our students at a number of College events and to witness high quality visiting professionals to inspire and work with our students. Some Music CCAs require students to audition before they may join the activity. This is to ensure that the student is at the appropriate level on their instrument and can access the repertoire that is covered. If a student is unsuccessful in their audition, they are strongly encouraged to practise their instrument and retry the following term. Participation in auditioned CCAs is at the discretion of the Director of The Arts.
Our Art programme offers students a creative space of a different kind to develop a passion in the visual arts, as well as cultivate fine motor skills, decision making, risk taking, and inventiveness. Students learn about colour, layout, perspective, and balance – all techniques that are necessary in their academic work. There are several different Art CCAs across the year, which provide students with an opportunity to showcase their work.
We are proud of our excellent reputation as a centre for the Dramatic Arts. Students of all ages are involved in high quality productions that take place in our College Theatre or Drama Studio. Our students can get involved backstage and participate in lighting, set design and production management. Throughout the academic year, students enjoy a range of theatre visits that support and enhance their co-curricular learning.
Sports and Outdoor Education
Sport is a key element of both curricular and Co-curricular activities at St Joseph’s. We offer a range of sports that suit boys and girls of every age and ability.
In addition to our sport programme, we also believe in the importance of students receiving an excellent outdoor education to better understand our natural world, as well as recognising the great outdoors as a powerful source to promote mental health and wellbeing.
St Joseph’s College is a Duke of Edinburgh Award Directly Licensed Centre and offers the Bronze Award in Year 9 and the Gold Award in the Sixth Form. The DofE aims to provide an enjoyable, non-competitive, challenging and rewarding programme of personal development. Expedition areas include the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, and the Lake District.
STEM
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. At St Joseph’s we strive to provide as many enriching opportunities in STEM as possible for our young medics, coders, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians. Our students have access to an incredibly diverse and stimulating STEM Co-curricular programme.
Our Infants (Year 1 to 2), Junior (Year 3 to 6) and Senior (Year 7 to 9) STEM Clubs are popular weekly activities. Anyone can join the fun and it is all hands on. Dissections, Gliders, Hydroelectric turbines, and Buckyballs, to name a few, are among the favourite activities. Students in Year 9 to 12 volunteer to run club sessions and activities for their peers which develop their technical but also leadership skills. They can choose to enrol onto our new STEM Leaders Level 2 qualification, a nationally accredited course completed over a term.
There are an abundance of opportunities throughout the school for students to get involved in:- ranging from Race to the Line where students design, build and race their own foam cars, F1 where students build, brand, design a car and race it whilst raising funds and getting involved in and National Security and Ethical hacking challenges, whereby students complete real life cyber security tasks (Cybercenturion Challenge 2020).
STEM also collaborates with HaLE in Cafe Scientique once a week where Year 10 to 13 gather for a lunchtime seminar to hear guest speakers, students and/or staff present and discuss a topic in academic research or industry.
HaLE
HaLE is the newest society at the College, encompassing, The Humanities, Languages, Economics and Business. We offer a range of inclusive activities on a weekly and ad-hoc basis.
The focus is on the wide-ranging number of clubs that run across the Prep and Senior schools which include:- Young Enterprise, Geography Club, HALE Club, CAFOD Young Leaders, Debate Club, Journalism and Creative Writing Club, Equality Society, Model United Nations (MUN) Club, Lit Club, Scrabble club, The Equality Society, School’s Challenge Club, Podcast Club, Model making Club, Philosophy & Ethics Club, Bible Study Group, First News Club, Book Club, Visual Arts & Embroidery Club and Mini-MUN.
We have joined forces with STEM to offer a weekly Wednesday Café presentation and discussion forum and have welcomed students and staff from the HaLE areas. Recent talks have been based on the issues facing Venice from climate change, journalism in South America, and the ethics of cloning.
