our ENrichment
"My daughter loves the school clubs. The vast number of clubs that are available, free Breakfast Club, Esports, Art, Science and Technology clubs are brilliant. Great for her to make new friends as well!" Miss Thompson - Mother of student in 7 Blue
A Truly Personalised Enrichment Programme
At The Highcrest Academy we believe a rich extra-curricular programme enhances learning and helps our students to gain confidence and skills in diverse areas. We offer over a hundred before-school, lunchtime and after-school clubs and activities, and also a wide variety of educational journeys which help to support academic and personal learning.
We believe that no matter how many clubs and trips that we offer that it is important that every child has the opportunity to participate. Our aim is to ensure that every student not only participates in our extracurricular program, but more importantly, participates in the enrichment activities that they personally require to close any gaps they may have in their life experiences.
Clubs 2024/2025
"Clubs and activities outside of school time are popular. School productions and plays attract many willing pupils, as do after-school clubs". Ofsted, February 2020
You will notice from the charts below that our Sports Hall, Dance Studio, Technology rooms, Performing Arts studio , ICT and classroom facilities are used extensively throughout the week to support our extracurricular offer. We believe in making the most of every minute of the school day!
PE Clubs 2024/2025
Sports fixtures, clubs and trips form a big part of our PE offer here at Highcrest. It is important to us that we offer a comprehensive extra-curricular programme where students have the opportunity to further explore activities, and should they wish to, enjoy the competition element amongst other schools in the District.
PE staff at Highcrest believe that sport plays a significant part in the development of the child and are committed to enhancing physical confidence, promoting life skills and enjoyment and supporting healthy futures through sport and physical activity.
Please click here for further details about attending clubs and guidance on what to expect should your child be picked to represent the school in a sports fixture.
School Trips
At the Academy, we offer a wide variety of offsite trips. Indeed, last academic year over 60 successful trips took place across all year groups.
Within our offer, there are many regular excursions that support our curriculum offer. The most popular of these include:
- A whole school ski trip with 50 students to Pila in the Aosta Valley.
- A thought-provoking and emotional trip to the World War I battlefield in Belgium (History)
- An exciting trip to Disneyland Paris, including behind the scenes opportunities (Drama)
- A trip to Naples and Rome with 44 students, walking 149,500 steps (History)
- A historical trip to Bletchley Park, the 19th century mansion used for code breaking during the Second World War (Mathematics and IT)
- A range of London theatre trips from Blood Brothers to Woman in Black (Performing Arts)
- Reward trips, such as national theme parks and Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland.
Trips can be memorable and exciting experiences for students but safety is always our primary concern. The Highcrest Academy remains part of the BCC ‘Evolve’ network of trip booking and monitoring and the Visits Co-ordinator and Assistant have attended updated training, The Highcrest Academy has full insurances in place. Click here to view our School Trips Policy and parents are welcome to view our procedures for booking and approving trips.
Please note that all parental permission slips are tailored to the individual trip and therefore should you need an emergency reply then please contact Mrs Stokes at sstokes@highcrestacademy.org.uk.
Educational Trips September 2022 to July 2023
Educational Trips September 2021 to July 2022
Young Enterprise Programme
Young Enterprise is a national charity which aims to help students to learn and understand business, alongside essential life and work skills. The programme has been running at Highcrest for several years and allows a group of students in Year 12 to set up and run a student company across an academic year. The students make all the decisions, from choosing the company name, deciding on a product, selling the chosen product at trade events, and managing their finance, marketing and operations. Students also learn how to write business plans and company reports and they participate in the Young Enterprise competition awards which are hosted annually by Bucks New University.
In recent years, our Young Enterprise teams have marketed a range of different products, for example, a movie experience hamper, pamper day gift sets, car care sets and recycled wood products including wooden coaster and decorations.
Young Enterprise teams have also taken part in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ experience where they presented their business ideas in return for shares of the business. This has been very successful and last year, resulted in the Highcrest team securing an investment of £50.
2023/2024
Our Year 12 students have the opportunity to take part in the Young Enterprise Company Programme. This is a where a team of students work together to create a product or service that they think will not only make sales, but also have a big impact on people’s lives.
Our YE Company Programme Team for this academic year has been formed and is emerging. They will begin making their presence known in the New Year but in the meantime, they are looking for potential investors into their business. To facilitate this, they have started to sell shares and are looking to you for support in helping them to raise some much-needed capital.
The shares are £1.00 each and can be purchased from any of the Board Directors or Miss Spencer.
The Board Directors are:
H Akhtar, A Abbas, A Strozyk, H Hussain, Y Wolna, A Syed, I Ali, A Hussain, S Kauser,
A Ahmed, H Ahmed & A Shahmard.
2021/2022
2020/2021
2019/2020
Young Enterprise began in September and have got off to a busy start.
This year we entered one team in the Young Enterprise Company Programme – Barkin’. Our team is lucky enough to have the help of three local Business Advisors from Veolia to help them through the process of setting up their business and establishing themselves in the market.
Barkin’ is a revolutionary new product idea which promotes eco-friendly business production through its use of recycled wood to a range of products including wooden coaster and decorations.
Since September the team have been very busy taking part in many Young Enterprise events. On 27 November, the students took part in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ experience where they presented their business ideas in return for shares of the business. This was very successful and resulted in the team receiving a huge investment.
To keep up with the busy week, on November 28 they attended their first selling event, The Highcrest Academy Xmas Fayre. Again this was a very successful event which saw loads of sales. Barkin’ would like to thank everybody who supported them on the night.
Due to the success of the Xmas Fayre, on the 8 December the team headed to Marlow for the Late Night Selling Event. Once again this event was very successful and resulted in the sale of the majority of the stock.
The next selling event is in Eden Shopping centre on 9 February. If you are available on that day, please show your support to the team.
Duke of Edinburgh's Award Programme
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme is the world’s leading youth achievement award, giving millions of 14 to 24-year-olds the opportunity to be the very best they can be.
The programmes take between one and four years to complete, and they must be completed by the participant's twenty-fifth birthday. The programmes are at three progressive levels which, if successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
Year 9 and Year 10 Programme
The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award scheme is available at Highcrest for students in Years 9 and 10.
Year 10 pupils will begin the award in the autumn term, in which they will complete activity sessions to prepare them for the necessary survival and life skills. The expedition will begin in the Spring term and will include activities such as, map reading, route planning and camping skills.
The award will be offered to Year 9 pupils in the Spring term, with preparatory activities beginning in the summer term.
KS5 students will be able to register on the Silver Award.
With assistance from adult Leaders, you will select and set objectives in each of the following areas:
- Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community.
- Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities.
- Skills: developing practical and social skills and personal interests.
- Expedition: planning, training for, and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad.
To achieve an award, you will need to work on each section for a minimum period of time, and your progress must be monitored and assessed by someone with knowledge of the chosen activities. Each progressive level demands more time and commitment from participants: Bronze 3–6 months and Silver: 6–9 months. Participants are required to show regular activity and commitment to the award for the duration of their DofE Programme, which is usually at least one hour per week.
There may be subsidies/grants available to pupil premium pupils.
Additional information can be found on the official website www.dofe.org . Alternatively, if you require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact either, Dr Platten at plattenr@highcrestacademy.org.uk.