A celebration of co-curricular activities during lockdown

As well as moving seamlessly to live lessons and guided home learning, we’re thrilled to see so many of our pupils continuing, and exploring new, co-curricular activities. At the start of this term we published our ‘Co-Curricular at Home Booklet’ which features a wealth of subject, physical, charitable, cultural activities and competitions, as well as House and school challenges and an initial Summer Term remote clubs timetable. Assistant Head (Co-curricular), Mrs Rodgers, has put together just some of her co-curricular at home highlights from the guided home learning phase so far.

The vision and vigour shown by our students and staff in co-curricular activities has been super-impressive. No facilities, no face to face contact – no problem! GoogleMeet clubs are taking place in Enterprise, Photography and a huge range of music groups to name just a few. Witnessing over a dozen Year 10 students singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ at 8am on a Monday morning is certainly an uplifting experience, whilst listening to our instrumental groups play ‘The Great Escape’ on a Friday morning certainly helps us keep a sense of humour.

We are delighted that so many girls have read the Co-Curricular at Home Booklet and are taking part in school and regional or nationally run competitions. The Art department set a challenge to produce a piece of work to show your own personal feelings to Covid-19 and they have so far received some incredibly thoughtful, creative and imaginative pieces of work.

Many girls have developed their entrepreneurial skills by attempting the Business and Enterprise optional activities. These have included ‘design a social distancing or stay at home advertisement for a product/brand of your choice’ and “pitching in the kitchen’, where the girls were invited to record a video of themselves doing a Dragon’s Den style marketing pitch for a healthy food product they could find in their homes.

Laboratories have not been needed for the STEM challenges which have included building the tallest free-standing paper tower that you can and the Geronimo Parachute Challenge – where our girls have been encouraged to run a competition at home to see who in their family can make the most effective parachute, taking the longest to land when dropped out of a window!

The Science Department have scrutinised the Natural History Museum’s Virtual Tour and created a quiz testing the girls’ recall ability which has also proved popular.

Photography Club has seen a surge in interest and Mr Martin and Mr Mowatt have been delighted with the skill shown in responses to their tasks. There has been a range of themes from food and flower photography, to places of light and shade and repetitions and patterns. Many of our students have responded to extension tasks in Cookery with some amazing international food prepared and hopefully enjoyed by many of our families.

We have also been thrilled with engagement from girls in reception right through to Year 13 in the Sheffield Girls’ Spirit House Activities. These have included ‘Tuneful Tuesdays’, where a video is sent out every Tuesday morning with birthday shout-outs for all our girls in school with a birthday in the forthcoming week and mood-enhancing songs chosen by the girls.

The Head Girls’ Gauntlet – where students let us know about different activities they are doing and how they are keeping themselves and those around them upbeat. Of course we were thrilled to see all your photos of how you made bunting and celebrated VE Day.

“A Flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it – it just blooms itself” is certainly a quote that our sports-keen students have taken on board. The last few weeks have resulted in girls making their own throwing implements in athletics, tennis practice systems and exercise circuits.

So many congratulations for the positivity, courage and kindness you are all showing in abundance - this current situation is certainly revealing the ‘get up and go’ trait in our pupils at Sheffield Girls’.

Mrs Rodgers, Assistant Head (Co-curricular)