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Enrichment
Life at Chertsey High School extends well beyond the timetabled school day. The enrichment offer is a structured and intentional part of the school's curriculum, designed to develop character, build community, and give every student access to experiences that broaden their understanding of themselves and the world around them.
The school expects every student to participate in at least one enrichment activity. This expectation reflects the school's belief that personal development does not happen only in classrooms. Sport, performance, leadership, adventure, and service each play a role in shaping the qualities students carry with them into adult life.
Extra-Curricular Clubs
Chertsey High School runs a broad programme of clubs and activities before school, at lunchtime, and after school across every day of the week. The full timetable is published at the start of each term, and new clubs are added regularly in response to student interest.
The current offer includes sport across a range of disciplines: netball, football, rugby, basketball, and badminton. Students with an interest in the performing arts join choir, drama, or the annual whole-school production. Creative options include art workshops, creative writing, and photography support sessions. Clubs such as STEM, Maths Enrichment, Debate, Chess, Anime, Korean Culture, and Dungeons and Dragons reflect the school's commitment to serving a wide range of interests. Instrumental lessons in piano, voice, guitar, bass, and drums are available as paid provision, with further instruments planned.
Some clubs carry a direct link to examination study: dedicated GCSE Art, Photography, and Design Technology workshops run weekly for Year 10 and Year 11 students, allowing them to work on coursework with staff guidance outside of lesson time. A homework club staffed by teaching assistants operates Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons, giving all students a supported space to complete independent work.
Extra-Curricular Clubs and Timetable
Trips and Visits
The school organises a programme of trips and visits across all year groups, designed to extend and contextualise classroom learning. Every trip is required to demonstrate clear educational purpose and alignment with the relevant subject curriculum before it proceeds. The safety of students is assessed through a formal risk assessment process for each excursion.
In Year 7, all students attend the school carol concert at St George's Chapel in Weybridge and are invited to the Christmas pantomime at Woking Theatre. These whole-year events are part of the school's commitment to shared cultural experiences for every student.
Across Key Stage 3, the offer includes team-building at Walton Firs Activity Centre, outdoor pursuits with Land and Wave in Dorset, a PGL Netball Tour, Modern Foreign Languages trips to France and Spain, and subject-specific visits to locations including the Black Cultural Archives, Brooklands Museum, Thorpe Park for STEM, and Wisley Gardens for Art and Design Technology.
In Key Stage 4, subject departments organise visits tied directly to GCSE programmes: Drama theatre trips, Geography coastal fieldwork, History visits to the Imperial War Museum, Photography and Design Technology trips to a sculpture park, and Sports Studies mountain biking expeditions. Students across year groups also attend Houses of Parliament visits, further education college taster days, and industry-facing careers trips.
The school's annual ski trip to Val di Fiemme runs over the Christmas period and is open to all students, with places allocated to the most senior year groups first. Where trips are oversubscribed, places are allocated by ballot, with a waiting list held for students who are not initially successful. The school does not want financial constraints to prevent access; families experiencing difficulty with trip costs are encouraged to speak with the trip leader at the earliest opportunity.
The House System
Every student who joins Chertsey High School is allocated to a House and remains in that House throughout their time at the school. Tutor groups are linked to houses, and students earn points for their House through their academic work, conduct, and participation. Regular competitions between houses run during tutor time and at whole-school events, creating structured opportunities for collaboration and healthy competition across year groups.
The House system is developed in collaboration with the Student Action Team. Student representatives contribute ideas and feedback directly to how the system operates, and leadership roles within each House give students an active stake in shaping the experience for their peers. The school plans to expand house-themed events, community outreach projects, and leadership opportunities within each House in coming years.
Student Leadership
Student leadership at Chertsey High School operates at multiple levels. The school elects a Head Boy and Head Girl who serve as Lead Prefects, representing the student body, leading events, and working alongside staff to shape the school's direction. The Lead Prefects hold a formal brief to amplify student voices, support inclusivity, and build connections within the school community and beyond.
The Student Action Team works closely with the school's leadership on specific development areas, including the House system and wider enrichment provision. Students in leadership roles are actively involved in decision-making rather than in ceremonial roles alone. This structure gives students experience of responsibility, communication, and collective action at an age when those skills are developing rapidly.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Chertsey High School offers the Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bronze level for Year 9 students and at Silver level for Year 10. The award is structured around four sections: physical activity, skill development, voluntary service, and an expedition. Each section requires students to set personal targets and demonstrate sustained commitment over a period of months.
The award develops qualities that examinations do not measure directly: resilience in challenging situations, the ability to work within a team toward a shared goal, and the confidence to operate outside familiar environments. Completing the expedition component in particular requires students to plan, train, and navigate independently, experiences that build practical capability and self-reliance.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is widely recognised by employers and higher education institutions. For students at Chertsey High School, participation also connects to the school's core values: knowledge gained through new experiences, determination sustained across months of preparation, and the love of community expressed through the voluntary service section of the programme.
Cultural Capital and Wider Experiences
The enrichment programme as a whole is designed to ensure that students at Chertsey High School encounter a breadth of experiences that extends beyond what the formal curriculum alone provides. Attendance at live performances, engagement with different cultural perspectives through trips and visits, participation in national award programmes, and the development of leadership and teamwork through sport and student governance each contribute to a student's cultural capital.
The school is explicit about this intention. Students from diverse backgrounds do not always arrive with equal access to these experiences outside of school. The enrichment programme is therefore designed to provide structured access to a range of experiences for every student, not only those whose families are able to arrange them independently. Pupil Premium funding is used in part to support student participation in enrichment activities where financial barriers would otherwise prevent access.
