Co-curricular Life

Alleyn’s offers a wide range of co-curricular activities to complement the academic curriculum and provide pupils with experiences and opportunities beyond the formal classroom.

These are an integral and essential part of an all-round holistic education, where we recognise that individuals flourish in a supportive environment in which all their abilities and talents are acknowledged and encouraged.

Our full Independent Schools Inspection report (2021) concluded: "Pupils' extensive achievements are the result of the wide-ranging and extensive co-curricular programme.

Pupils seize the many opportunities presented to them by their teachers to follow their own interests and passions, whilst at the same time gaining outstanding results in their external examinations."

Our co-curricular programme prepares our pupils to C.O.P.E. with the 21^st century:

Community     an awareness of learning how to be selfless and putting others first;

Opportunity    finding an interest and/or exploring a passion;

Participation   getting involved/making a commitment;

Excellence       striving to achieve something special.

Pupils have the opportunity to shape the co-curriculum through the Co-Curricular Council (student voice) and students take leading roles in running co-curricular activities for younger pupils. Outstanding contribution is recognised through the Colours system, with ties and badges awarded for Full and Half Colours, and Commendations, across all sections of the school.

Co-curriculum

Pupils are offered a wide range of co-curricular activities each term. There are 60 weekly sports clubs (not counting matches and fixtures which involve over 150 teams playing more than 1,200 competitive games across the year), including mixed cricket and football, water polo, gymnastics, lacrosse and fives, in addition to hockey, basketball, netball, athletics, tennis and swimming. There are plenty of opportunities for music, drama and dance, including the Technical and Creative Team, individual music lessons and LAMDA. There are more than 180 exciting and diverse co-curricular options to choose from outside the classroom, including Cookery, Molecular Gastronomy, Art, Design, Film and Photography, Classics, Debating, Alleyn’s Radio, Podcast Club, Gardening, Model United Nations and Science.

See the Advent 2022 clubs and societies schedule here. 

Educational Visits

We are extremely proud of the extensive range of day and residential educational visits available to our pupils (around 200 day trips each academic year). The School takes full advantage of our location to run numerous museum and theatre trips within London, as well as locations further afield. Examples of some of the recent residential trips we have run include the annual Buxton Residential trip for Year 7, Geography trip to Iceland, Languages trips to Spain, France and Germany, Physics trips to NASA (USA) and to CERN (Switzerland), Drama trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Classics trip to Rome, Sports trip to South Africa, ski trips to Europe or North America, to mention but a few.  

Alongside this we run two 'Field Days' every year where the whole School goes off timetable to undertake a range of co-curricular trips and activities. In the Lower School we have whole year group trips. In the past these have been to London Zoo and the Tower of London, and the Middle and Upper Schools take part in activities related to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and CCF which all offer residential experiences through a normal academic year. Careers and higher education enrichment days also form part of our 'Field Day' activities for our older pupils.

"Because of all the opportunities I have had, and the willingness of the teachers to help me fit everything in, I feel I am fulfilling my potential in both sport and music. I feel I'm achieving a lot and I'm having fun.",  Ethan, Year 10, Football club, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Duke of Edinburgh

"I feel very fortunate to attend Alleyn’s; a school that has encouraged me to pursue a diverse range of opportunities and wholeheartedly supported my endeavours along the way.  I’ve acted, danced and sung, played sport (both competitively and for fun), been a Saturday Maths mentor to primary school pupils and found my niche through Volunteering, thanks to Alleyn’s philosophy of allowing every pupil to follow their own path, without judgement, to realise their potential."  Grace, Year 12, Drama, Volunteering, Music