Pupils take part in Enrichment and Community Day

Pupils from across the school celebrated Enrichment and Community Day today, taking part in a wide range of activities. An off-timetable day for all year groups, the day is designed to offer learning experiences that differ from the regular curriculum.

The Second Form took part in some ‘Wellbeing Workshops’, involving four sessions across the day. These included: a visit to Oxford Botanic Garden for a sketching session, yoga and meditation, a guided tour of gargoyles found on nearby architecture and a classroom-based session focusing on music and breathing techniques.

Third Form pupils took part in a cross-curricular activity combining Engineering and Geography, focused on designing and building earthquake proof buildings. Pupils leapt at the challenge, conducting their own research, building models to be tested, and pitching their solutions through presentations.

It was ‘Newspaper Day’ for the Lower Fourth, who worked in teams to produce a newspaper. The day began with an introductory talk by a highly respected national journalist, after which the boys set up and ran their own newspapers. This involved reporting on events as they occurred around the school, conducting interviews, taking photographs, writing opinion pieces, and finally printing off the finished product at the end of the day.

The Upper Fourth spent most of their day outside, assisting various local organisations with planting, digging, weeding, litter-picking and other general garden maintenance. This took place at a range of wildlife and nature sites around the city, including Burgess Field, The Trap Grounds, Headington Hill Park, Boundary Brook Nature Reserve and St Andrew’s Primary School.

The Fifth Form went to Blenheim Palace for their Enrichment and Community Day, taking part in a ‘Treasure Hunt’ orienteering activity through the extensive Palace grounds. Pupils were split into groups and competed to complete the course using their map reading and problem-solving skills. There was a puzzle based on an MCS activity/event at each checkpoint and the boys had to solve these as they progressed around the grounds.

Lower Sixth pupils undertook a ‘Wellbeing and Future Focus’ morning, including talks and workshops on physical and mental wellbeing, and practical advice on how to support these. Meanwhile, the Upper Sixth focused on university preparation, with all pupils intending on making an early UCAS application to Oxford or Cambridge, Medicine or Dentistry having a day geared towards supporting them, including practice interviews and specialist advice. Other pupils spent the morning in a mock Assessment Centre experience, where their lateral thinking, problem solving and team working skills were tested through a series of tasks. This gave them an insight into how Assessment Centres work, and how they are becoming an increasingly common part of graduate recruitment processes.