Extended School
Have a look at our Ace of Clubs programme. Parents, please encourage your child to participate. There's plenty for everybody, but if you would like us to offer something else, then please let us know and we'll do our best. We publish a new programme each term, so there's always something new. There are also prizes for students who show the greatest level of attendance and participation! We start the day with Breakfast Club. From 7.45 am, students can come in for breakfast, sit and chat with the member of staff in charge, do homework, read and catch up with friends. We know our students learn better if they have had a good breakfast and we want to make this a positive start to the day. And, until further notice, the first 30 breakfasts are free! Most days of the week, students can use the library or ICT rooms for Study Support. We have set aside different rooms for different year groups. Study Support is supervised by our Pastoral Support Assistants. Students are encouraged to attend so that they develop good independent study habits, can keep on top of homework and course work, and use our excellent IT facilities. Additional support is given by curriculum departments in their own subject areas to develop skills and interests at KS3, while at KS4 the emphasis is on stretching students and keeping them on track so they get the best possible GCSE grades. You will see that sport and fitness clubs are a strong feature of the club programme. Early in the morning, at lunchtime and after school there is a range of activities to join in with. Most are open to boys and girls, but we make a special effort to encourage girls' fitness by providing some single sex activities. Young musicians are well provided for. There are timetable clubs in the programme, but keen students learning instruments can usually find a practice room at lunchtime and after school. And then there are the clubs that encourage personal well-being and social development (e.g. Chill Out Club, YWCA Girls Club, Relaxation Club, or cater for special interests (e.g. Manga Club, Chess Club and DJ Club). Ace of Clubs Programme Autumn 2008 We like to get involved with our local community and participate in local events and take advantage of opportunities that arise. Here are just a few varied and recent examples: Acton Visual Arts Exhibition Every summer we host the Acton Visual Arts Exhibition (see Summer 08 newsletter). Our students' work was shown alongside that of local professional and amateur artists, and college students. This is a collaboration with Acton Arts Forum and Acton Community Forum. The show then moved to the PM Gallery in Ealing, which is a wonderfully prestigious place to exhibit. Now, the work can be seen in various venues around Acton in Art Hits the Streets. Acton Carnival Saturday, 12th July. We always take part in Carnival - in the procession and on the stage. Thames Festival APPLE ran a series of workshops at school, making lanterns for the Thames Festival in September. Young Enterprise Gallery of Dreams Over the spring term, Year 10 students have been working with Young Enterprise, Tate, Children in Need and fellow students from Villiers on an art project called "Gallery of Dreams". The aim of the project was to foster friendships between young people in refugee and local communities through team building, work related learning and personal development. A workshop at Tate Britain showed them the range of skills and roles needed in a major gallery, and a very muddy weekend residential at Phasels Wood helped to build the team. The group commissioned artist educators to work in local schools with small groups of refugees and EAL students who participated in a workshop making discoveries about identity and dreams of the future through art and group work. The result of all these workshops and activities was the "Gallery of Dreams" exhibition, which the students curated, at Ealing CLC in the summer. London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum Depot is right next door to us. A group of students worked with staff there on producing audio guides to some of the artefacts in the Depot. Their podcasts were launched in June and will be handed out to visitors at the Depot's Open Weekend on 1st and 2nd October. This partnership work was considered so exemplary that our students were asked to present to delegates at a Museums, Libraries and Archives conference in central London. Global Waters We're not just local in our involvement - we go global! Acton High provides some Saturday School study days for KS4 students. These are programmed in response to the actual needs of students as they approach their GCSE exams. Information will be found in the News section as it becomes available and will also come home via the students. You will be able to find out about holiday schemes and courses provided by other organisations in this section. Acton High offers occasional holiday courses for students. These are designed to meet particular needs or expressions of interest. Information will be found in the News section as it becomes available. An example is below: Transition Summer School 2008 For two weeks in July and August, we put on a summer school in the CLC for students from local primary schools who would be joining Acton High in September. The idea was for children to get to know each other, learn some ICT skills, explore London and have fun! The children made videos about themselves, visited the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, took digital photos, designed an online museum, put together a TV show and practiced recording and editing techniques. If your browser does not have the adobe acrobat plug-in, you will not be able to view the report. Click here to install 
