Opportunities beyond the classroom
Senior School
Learning takes place beyond the classroom, be it outdoor lessons using our beautiful school grounds, field trips in the local region or overseas educational visits.
The Senior School lunch break of an hour allows for lunch with peers then a club, society or free play. A club is a weekly session to help students pursue a hobby or interest, practise a skill or activity and look to develop it. A society is a weekly academic enrichment session to help students learn beyond the classroom. All clubs and societies are optional, and we encourage all students to get involved and maximise their opportunities to develop and have fun outside of lesson time at school.
Our school site is always being developed to facilitate opportunities beyond the classroom. The Dingly Dell Heritage Orchard, planted in 2019, and the adjacent large wildlife pond, both enable and encourage more girls to engage with the outdoors. In addition, we have a thriving Forest Schools programme, a polytunnel in our Prep School which has been instrumental in teaching young girls the skills of horticulture, a Woodlanders Society teaching the theory of plant succession and woodland management, and our outdoor theatre provides more opportunities for drama performances.
Visit our site“I personally find that what makes Norwich High so brilliant, alongside the quality education and stellar grades, is the unique culture of the place itself.”
Trips
School trips offer diverse enrichment opportunities throughout the year. Some are for whole year groups, such as the Year 8 French trip to Normandy; others are for smaller groups and might take you further afield. Start of academic year group trips aim to build friendships in Year 7 and Year 9 where the intake of new students is higher.
The annual Year 9 bushcraft camping trip to Whitwell Hall helps build girls’ resilience and teamwork skills within their form groups, as well as important life skills. We fully recognise the boost to personal wellbeing from actively engaging with the natural world.
Recent years have seen girls going as far as Iceland (Geography), Barcelona (Music tour), Madagascar (Operation Wallacea, Sciences), and Lake Garda (Sports tour), to name just a few. Residential visits within the UK, such as field work in Wales and the Peak District or locally in Norfolk, stimulate a keen interest in subjects and develop skills not possible in the classroom.
Outreach and outward bounds
We actively engage students and staff in partnership opportunities with local schools and the wider community. Girls work alongside staff to deliver introductory lessons in French and Latin, to team-teach Science to local primary schools; to work alongside students with additional needs at the Parkside School, helping with our drama workshops, and supporting an annual Year 5 Science day. Our girls flourish in these scenarios, developing their skills of empathy and leadership and growing in self confidence.
Our Duke of Edinburgh award programme is particularly active. The majority of our Year 9 cohort is involved in completing the Bronze Award and many continue onto their Silver (in Year 10) and Gold Award (starting at 16 years old). In recent years, we have emerged as one of the most successful centres for Gold completion in the East region. A significant number of girls complete all three levels of award whilst still a student at school which is truly impressive!