Sixth Form Extra-Curricular

Co-ordinated by Extended Project Qualification mentors, the EPQ is a qualification that all Sixth Formers can take to show what they are capable of when given the chance. There is no formal teaching, and there are no exams.

Students choose the topic they wish to investigate, and will be entirely responsible for the project content. A tutor is assigned to teach the basic skills required to realise the project. Some skills will be relevant to all projects: time management, research, organisation, but others will be very specific to the project carried out by a student.

The project, once finished, can be either a 5000-word written investigation, or a ‘production’ by the student: this could be an artefact, a website, a performance, a novel, the organisation of an event, a blog, directing a play… in that case, a 1000-word document will complement the project.

Students also have to submit a production log which records planning and progress, including the review meetings with their supervisor.

Finally, students will need to make an oral presentation of their project in front of an audience.

The students’ work is assessed and moderated by the teachers, before being submitted to the board. Marks are awarded as follows:

• Project Management Skills: 20%
• Effective use of resources: 20%
• Developing and realising the project: 40%
• Review / evaluation of own performance: 20%

The project is equivalent to half an A level and is graded in the same way. So an A* grade would give 28 UCAS points, an A 24, a B 20, a C 16, a D 12 and an E 8.

Embarking on such a project is a very good way for students to prepare themselves for University style learning and can be a means of distinguishing between equally good students when it comes to University applications.

There a variety of clubs available at KAS for students to be getting involved in. From subject based clubs to sports to bands and choirs, there is never a dull moment.

We have clubs for football, netball, basketball, volleyball, trampolining and cheerleading, with most clubs participating in fixtures. We also have music groups such as Rock Band, Music Tech, Orchestra and Jazz Band to name but a few. Other clubs range from backgammon, life drawing, book clubs, Japanese Language and Culture, French & Spanish debate and blacksmithing.

Drama and Musical Productions and Concerts

There are many opportunities for students to get involved in drama and musical productions. Each year, there is an Upper School musical production during the Autumn Term. The most recent production was The Addams Family and other productions include Sweeny Todd, Into the Woods, Guys and Dolls, Grease, Legally Blonde and Les Miserables. We have also held a Shakespeare Festival including Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado about Nothing.

Throughout the year there is a Christmas concert, a Summer concert, a number of theatre trips, music concerts and soloist performances which can be seen at our Unplugged and Axemonsters concerts.

Sailing

The School has three boats, built by staff and students (with help from boat designer Nigel Irens) and named after Viking King Alfred’s three daughters: Æthelflæd, Æthelgifu, and Ælfthryth. There are many opportunities for students to sail the KAS boats, including the Thames Great River Race in which both students and staff participate.

Fit to Study

All Sixth Formers will have games on their timetable and there is a choice of sports to get involved in including: football, basketball, netball, fitness, yoga, pilates, tennis, rounders, badminton and volleyball. Sport is compulsory and it gives students a chance to get out of the classroom and get some exercise.

Throughout the year, there will be fixtures for our sports teams: football (boys and girls), basketball (boys) and netball (girls). All Sixth Formers are welcome to come to after school clubs to practise for these fixtures. Our fitness studio is available to Sixth Formers to use in their free time, once they have completed a gym induction.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Duke of Edinburgh Award has been running at KAS for several successful years now. The award can be started in Year 9, 10, 11 or in the Sixth Form. The award is vocational in its nature, and can reward students with a great sense of achievement and purpose, especially when helping others in the volunteering section and when working in a team for the expedition.

Camp

At the start of the school year, Year 12, students go on a two-day camp away from the School. Bringing together old and new students in a relaxed setting helps to create friendship bonds and build community spirit and teamworking skills. Sixth Formers also have the option to join both the School ski trip and a trip to Sri Lanka in the Easter break to volunteer with our sister school and experience life in a different culture.

Curriculum trips

There are a wide range of trips designed to enhance the curriculum and students have many opportunities to visit London’s varied cultural facilities. Last year, these included various plays and musicals, art and photography shows, and visits to galleries, workshops, museums, university degree shows, businesses, book readings and festivals, Biology and Geography students organise residential fieldwork in various parts of the country and abroad. Art and Photography students travel every year to a foreign city, which in the past has included Berlin, Barcelona, Venice, Istanbul and Paris. The History/Politics Department has led trips to Washington, Cuba and Moscow. The Biology Department run a biannual trip to Flatford Mill and Geography has many fieldtrips including to the Sussex coast and the Living Rainforest.

Delivered once a week, PSHE in the Sixth Form at KAS involves a series of themed blocks, which change every half term. Students have the opportunity to suggest topics for study and discussion that they would find especially useful or interesting. Currently the blocks include:

• Learning to learn: study skills of an independent A level student
• Addicted to life: all about addictions and how to deal with the demands of modern adolescence
• Relationships and sex education: managing intimate and family relationships
• Healthy lifestyle: looking after our physical health, through sensible nutrition, exercise and illness awareness
• Coping with stress and anxiety through resilience and mindfulness
• Other topics include: the world of money, issues in modern society, law and justice, diversity and equality, and many more.

Workshops and Special classes

Special classes and workshops will be provided on study skills, health, and well-being throughout the year. Regular callovers (assemblies) will also provide Sixth Form students with the opportunity to engage with a wide range of issues designed to enhance their understanding of the world around them.

The KAS Academic Lecture Series is an inter-disciplinary forum where guest speakers lecture or present on their area of expertise. Students then have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A. Previous topics have included:

• Dr Simon Singh: Mathematics in the Simpsons
• The Cambridge Institute of Astronomy: Comets
• Journalist Sam Leith: Rhetoric
• Laura Bates: Everyday Sexism.

For the last couple of years, The King Alfred School Society has organised and hosted a day of TEDx talks which has featured Sixth Formers among the speakers. Pitching their ideas and refining their talk before performing it in front of an audience is a hugely rewarding experience for our students. Find out more here.