The Super Curriculum
Super-curricular is different from extra-curricular or enrichment. Extra-curricular activities are those outside of your chosen subjects, and usually unrelated to your studies, whereas super-curricular activities take the subjects you study further, beyond what you learn in the classroom and outside the prescription of exam board specifications and assessments.
Why is it important for a pupil at Bishop’s to engage with the super-curriculum?
Participation in the super-curriculum is living the Bishop’s 360. It will give pupils great preparation for succeeding at university and employment. It will facilitate the development of new ideas and opinions, critical thinking, analytical skills and an ability to understand new information from different sources.
It will help students to build greater confidence in their subject choices, show their commitment to their chosen area of study, and give them a wealth of ideas to draw upon in discussions, applications and interviews.
Students will also benefit from reading around the subjects that they are interested in. With categories ranging from STEM to post-2000s fiction, there are books for every pupil in our Bishop’s Hatfield Reading List: The 100!
How can you delve deeper into your subject?
Use these helpful tips to help you get the best out of the super-curriculum.
- Be open minded – Do not be afraid to try out some things that are different to what you’re used to.
- Find the connections – Look for the links between the different things that you have explored. By doing this you really test how well you’ve understood the ideas and you could even come up with unique ideas of your own. Making comparisons and contrasts is a good way to do this.
- Ask a lot of questions – Don’t just accept the arguments that you come across. Try and challenge them, and think of counter examples. Would it be the same in all situations? Is there another way of solving that problem? What do you really think?
- Pause and reflect – While reading articles or listening to podcasts, stop to think. What is your opinion? You might find it useful to write a short paragraph to practice articulating your own ideas about a subject
- Talk passionately – Always talk about things with people, whether your teacher, parent, or friend. Perhaps you don’t understand something you’ve read or you’d like to debate it further. Conversations such as these provide excellent practice for future interviews.
- Follow your interests – Don’t do an activity just because you think it looks good. Read books and take part in things that you think are genuinely stimulating. This means that you avoid having to try hard to fake interest. Pursuing super-curricular activities should never become a chore.
Now using the elements of knowledge, skills and character from the Bishop’s 360, explore your subject and delve deeper with our super-curricular resources.
Year 11 Super Curriculum Resources
English
Expressive Arts
Health
Humanities
Maths and Computing
Modern Foreign Languages
Science
Year 12 & 13 Super Curriculum Resources
