Enrichment

Enrichment at Harborne Academy

Harborne Academy offers a thriving enrichment programme that provides our students with a huge range of opportunities, allowing them to find out more about their interests and passions, develop confidence in their unique skills and talents, and make friends along the way.

At the heart of Harborne Academy life is a calendar of events that draws the whole school community together. There’s always something going on around the academy with a varied programme, including Roald Dahl Day, National Poetry Day, Black History Month, PSHE days, Arts’ Week, the Harborne Christmas and Summer Fayres, STEM Week, World Book Day, concerts and our end of year production. We also ensure key local, national and international events are suitably commemorated such as Remembrance and Holocaust Memorial Day.

It is important to us that our students get involved in school-based activities as much as possible and, at Harborne Academy, there is plenty to choose from. From sport, to learning an instrument; from pottery to chess; whatever the interest, there is something for everyone.

Enrichment opportunities are often delivered by our staff, but we have also forged external links with organisations and specialist providers to ensure a high-quality offer for students. Harborne Academy is part of Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre’s Education Network (HEN). This provides our students with unique learning experiences, such as creating their own performances, but also provides numerous opportunities for them to enjoy a range of live theatre. In Year 7, all students have an opportunity to work towards the Arts Council of England’s Arts Award Explore qualification. If they choose to, Years 8 and 9 students can then complete the Arts Award Bronze Level. The Arts Award ensures that our students have opportunities to study, experience and enjoy a range of art-forms and, after completing their portfolio, gain a recognised qualification. In Years 9 and 10, students participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme at Bronze Level, providing them with an array of invaluable experiences.

Throughout the year, we have numerous authors, poets and illustrators visit the Academy, to work directly with our students, but also to talk about their lives and inspirations. In recent years, we have welcomed Patrice Lawrence, Jessica Mikhail, Tom Palmer, Linda Newbery, Bali Rai, Alex Wheatle, Matt Windle, Martin Impey, Richard O Brien, Liam Brown, Hunt Emerson, Helen Greetham and Sufiya Ahmed.

Harborne Students are also provided with a huge array of opportunities to visit amazing places as part of enrichment outside the classroom. Trips include visits to London, theatres, museums, The Hay Festival, the Black Country Living Museum, Cadbury World, Bletchley Park, Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, the battlefields and cemeteries of the First World War in Belgium and France, our skiing trip to Italy, Carding Mill Valley and National Memorial Arboretum.

Videos

Weekly Enrichment Overview