Super Curriculum

Introduction

At King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, we want our students to grow to be ambitious, aspirational and resilient lifelong learners who are intellectually curious. Our knowledge rich curriculum provides the opportunity and challenge where there are no limits to learning.

Super curricular activities are those that take your regular curriculum further. They take the subjects you study in the classroom beyond that which your teacher has taught you or what you’ve done for home learning. For example, you may go into more depth on something you picked up in the classroom, or learn about a new topic altogether. Engaging in super curricular activities will help you develop a passion for your favourite subject or subjects.

These activities can take many forms including reading, watching videos online, listening to podcasts, attending lectures, visiting museums or entering academic competitions. There are a range of activities, suggested by your teachers. They are by no means exhaustive lists but should get you started. I would encourage you to share ideas and opportunities you come across with myself and your teachers so that, over time, the recommended activities can grow.

This is your opportunity to build up a strong portfolio of Super Curriculum tasks. In an ever more competitive world, it is key for you to be able to demonstrate the opportunities and independent study you have taken outside of your academic studies. In the future, universities or employers will be interested to hear about what super curricular activities you have engaged in; they will be interested in what you have learnt and be impressed by your efforts. I wish you well in your pursuit of super curricular activities!

I would highly recommend creating a super curriculum portfolio; a record of all the super curricular tasks that you complete with dates, evidence and your personal reflections. This will mean that you have a vast bank of super curricular tasks to refer back to during interviews and clear evidence of your hard work beyond the curriculum. Below is a template that you could use – however you can do this in a format that suits you better.

SEE WHAT OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ARE SAYING ABOUT SUPER CURRICULAR ACTIVITES:

https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/applying-to-univ/explore-your-subject/

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/super-curricular-activities

The KEY to success…