Visit West Exe School on a Wednesday afternoon and you might see students playing pickleball or heading off to go rowing or play golf.
Others will be sitting enjoying origami or architectural design lessons, with some taking part in junior Masterchef clubs or working on our allotments.
These activities - and many more besides - are all part of our Wednesday afternoon electives programme that has been running in our secondary school since 2020.
The aim is to ensure students can access a wider range of learning opportunities beyond the traditional curriculum.
Broadening the extracurricular offering
Of course, we had always offered extracurricular activities to students - but we were aware many didn’t stay behind after school to take part, particularly disadvantaged students.
So, we decided to introduce the electives during school hours to make sure every student can access high-quality enrichment alongside our academic curriculum.
The programme began four years ago with Year 7s, and we’ve added a year group each year. We don’t limit year groups to certain activities, so almost all are open to students from each year - meaning plenty of mixed-year groups.
This structure helps to develop the feeling of community within the school and provides student leadership opportunities for the older children.
How it works
Each elective runs for 12 weeks during each term, and students pick a new activity each term, from three different areas: physical and active, skills development, and community and volunteering.
We have students choose from all three areas to make sure they gain a balance of skills and experience. To help make this choice at the start of each term, there’s an electives booklet with information on each course - and they can speak with teachers or key workers to help make their choice.
For our disadvantaged students, those with EAL and our vulnerable groups (including low attenders), this is supported by 1:1 mentoring to help students make their choices and ensure positive experiences.
Initially, the sessions were an hour but they’re now 90 minutes. This move has been well received as it’s given us more flexibility and allowed for more off-site activities.
How we do it
Courses are run by our teachers and other members of staff, who enjoy running sessions that complement their interests. We’ve also made this part of our recruitment process, so we’re aware of individuals who may have skills to share and we will discuss this specifically at interviews.
We’ve had a positive response from parents and carers, who seem to appreciate that we have built this range of activities into the school day.
While most activities require little funding and use existing school facilities, we’ve been grateful for Active Devon’s support. We’ve also used the Opening School Facilities funding from the DfE to allow external clubs such as volleyball and martial arts to use our facilities, while they in turn provide access to their coaches to run our electives.
This also has the benefit of giving students the opportunity to continue with these activities outside of school hours if they want to, after being introduced to them during their electives.
Evolving the offer
We now offer new courses based on feedback and recommendations from students, such as self-defence and climbing - as well as two electives that support vulnerable groups, Mindfulness and Wellbeing and Kindness in the Community.
We plan to develop this further by introducing a Work in the Community elective. This will support positive work placements for Year 10s and some collaborative work with our FE providers and community employers.
Offering these electives provides an opportunity for discovery for both staff and students, allowing them to try out new skills and ideas, work outside their comfort zone and be creative and innovative.
I also think the programme helps to drive forward personal development across the school and develops engagement with our community partners.
We’ve helped another school in our trust, St James School, to adopt the electives model, and have been supporting them with its development. I hope many more will follow, so many more students see schools as a place to learn and grow in all areas of life.
Julie Fossey is headteacher at West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust
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