Enrichment

Students’ attitudes to learning, behaviour and all aspects of school life are exemplary. They value and thrive on the many opportunities to take on responsibility, as well as the exciting range of enrichment activities on offer. As a result, they develop very strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural values.

St Albans Girls' School provides a fantastic array of opportunities for students to widen and enrich their learning and skills beyond the classroom.

We have school teams in a wide range of sports, a large variety of orchestras and music ensembles and drama and art workshops. Many of our students also take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and all students benefit from a range of trips and visits at various points in the year, culminating in our annual Curriculum Enrichment Week in July where each year group takes part in a bespoke programme of activities both on and off site.

Student leadership is an integral element of school life with learners across all year groups taking on a variety of roles from Form Leader to House and Charity Captains.

Our full range of enrichment opportunities is outlined below and can be explored in more depth using the 'In This Section' links to the right of this page.

Charity Events

Students show our STAGS values of Generosity and Support through their extensive work for a variety of charities across the year.

As a school community we aim to raise £25,000 per year for local, national and international causes. Each of the eight Houses has a charity that they work with from October each school year. The Sixth Form House Captains make use of their assemblies to promote the work of their charity as well as to encourage the members of their House to support the charity through running various fundraising stalls and events such as our hugely successful Winter Fair which is run in association with STAGS PTA.

The House Charities for 2023-2024 are:

Austen	The OLLIE Foundation
Bronte	Herts Young Homeless
Curie	Child Poverty Action Group
Franklin	Herts for Refugees
Hepworth	Earthworks
Johnson	Freedom 4 Girls
Parks	Playskill
Seacole	St Albans Womens' Refuge

When the new House Captains are selected in October 2024, they will decide on the charities that each House will raise funds for during academic year 2024-2025.

Working alongside the Year 12 House Captains, Charity Captains run the whole school fundraising events with the support of the school student leaders in years 7-11.

Below is the 2024-2025 charity calendar, although students are encouraged to suggest and plan additional fundraising events if they arise throughout the year. Many year groups decide on a charity they would like to take part in a fundraising activity for and coordinate the event themselves with the guidance of their director of learning.

The STAGS community are also encouraged to plan fundraising events in response to natural disasters or other humanitarian crises as they occur as well as when celebrating festivals such as Hanukkah, Eid and Lunar New Year.

First Give

Each year, Year 9 students participate in the Social Action competition First Give from April to July.

The project enables students to become the ambassadors and social campaigners for a local charitable organisation. At the School Final, the winning Form Group wins a fantastic £1,000 for their charity.

During the first stage of the programme the students work as a form group to select the local cause that wish to become the ambassadors for.

Once they have selected their local cause, they then work with their charity over the next few weeks, to learn how the organisation would utilise the £1,000 prize fund. Using this knowledge the students are then able to prepare their presentations and videos for the competition.

The third stage of the project is an in class competition. This is when each team within the form group shares their knowledge of the charity, the video they have made and how they would encourage social action to promote the charity to the wider community. This stage is judged by the PSHE class teacher, a member of the Senior Leadership Team and it is also peer assessed by the students in the class.

First Give then provides a public speaking workshop for each of the groups who are presenting at the final so that they can fully prepare to try and win the overall competition.

Lastly, we have the School Final. This event is held during the school day in the main school hall. All members of Year 9 attend, along with the charity representatives. The judging panel has the very tough decision of deciding which team has shown the most social action and presented the strongest argument to win £1,000 for their charity.

This is an extremely popular and exciting event that students particularly enjoy and flourish in. Some of the educational elements of First Give include:

- Being involved in real and current issues

- Connecting directly with the community

- Learning through planning activities

- Learning through 'doing'

- Reflecting on and assimilating learning

For more information about the First Give project at St Albans Girls' School please contact Mrs Jarvis.

Rotary Interact Club of St Albans

St Albans Girls' School is the home of the first Rotary Interact Club in St Albans and the club is entirely run by students.

The club meets every Wednesday, usually in Room P2 (check the room change board) and any student in Years 8-13 is welcome to attend.

Rotarians Lavinia Hale and Ken Scott from the Rotary Club of St. Albans Priory, support the club and attend the weekly meetings along with Mrs Rock.

In the meetings, the club decides on what activities they wish to lead in that year to raise money for our chosen charities.

We also support the Rotary Shoebox Scheme, the Rotary's End Polio Now campaign.

For more information about the Rotary Interact Club of St Albans please contact Mrs Rock.

The Diana Award

STAGS hosted and participated in the Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme, an inspiring initiative dedicated to empowering young people to tackle bullying in all its forms. Named in honour of Princess Diana’s legacy of compassion and kindness, the programme provides students with the training and tools needed to become effective Anti-Bullying Ambassadors. By the end of the session, our newly trained ambassadors were ready to make a real difference, committed to creating a safer, more supportive environment for everyone in our school community and the large number of local schools that were represented.

Clubs and Activities

There are a wide range of Clubs and Activities that take place both during and after the school day for all Year groups. From art and debate clubs to pop music club, choir and netball, we offer a breadth of experiences and encourage all students to participate in at least two activities a week. Whilst the offer at STAGS is vast, where students have requested particular clubs, we do our utmost to facilitate these requests and continue our strong student voice 'You Said, We did' approach.

Each term we update and publish the Enrichment: Clubs and Activities timetable.

If you have any questions about Clubs and Activities, please email the appropriate Director of Learning.

Summer 2025 - Clubs and Activities Timetable

Performing Arts

Performing Arts at STAGS

STAGS have a thriving performing arts department comprising Dance, Drama and Music. Across the disciplines, we have a vibrant curriculum and extensive extra-curricular programme.

Students have the opportunity to take part in various choirs, orchestras, ensembles, dance and drama clubs and the older students can audition to be part of our senior dance company Advance.

Students are also encouraged to take part in the many varied performance opportunities throughout the year ranging from chamber concerts where soloists can take the limelight to whole school musical productions. In addition, we have Synergy and Flair our dance and gym productions, Flair being led by our amazing senior students.

Students at STAGS from early on in their creative journey, are encouraged to lead and support. There are many opportunities to devise, compose and choreograph with younger students.

PE Extracurricular

Outside of the PE curriculum, students have the opportunity to develop their skills further through our extensive extracurricular offering. Students are able to take part on a recreational basis or compete at a team level.

Extracurricular activities and Fixtures
Extracurricular activities take place at both lunchtime and after school across the academic week. This information can be found on our clubs and activities timetable and is updated on a termly basis.

If students wish to represent the school, they have the opportunity to participate in a variety of district and county level fixtures throughout the year. This includes competing in the following activities:

Athletics
Badminton
Basketball
Cheerleading
Cross Country
Football
Gymnastics
Hockey
Indoor Cricket
Netball
Rounders
Table Tennis

Trips
Throughout the academic year we also offer trips and visits which include, spectating live sporting fixtures, visits to universities and sports tours. There are two sports tours scheduled this academic year, one involving Year 8 students attending a weekend at PGL and the other being a trip to Barcelona for Year 10. Throughout the year we also work alongside the School Games Partnership in which we offer our Level 1 & 2 Sports Leaders leadership opportunities. During curriculum enrichment week this year, the department is taking all of Year 8 to complete an assault course, enabling them exposure to outdoor adventurous activities.

Interhouse
All students across KS3/4 with the support of KS5 students are part of inter house sports competitions, calendared throughout the academic year. Students get to compete in a variety of team based activities in order to win points for their houses. This is an opportunity for houses across the Key Stages to come together as communities and demonstrate a variety of leadership and teamwork skills, alongside our STAGS values.

Student Leadership

To enable our students to break the glass ceiling we provide opportunities to develop a wide range of leadership skills

The Head Students for 2024/2025 are:

The Deputy Head Students for 2024/2025 are:

Key Leadership Roles

In Years 7-11 each Form Group has:

A Form Captain and a Vice Form Captain who attend Student Parliament
A Sports Captain and a Vice Sports Captain
Two Anti-Bullying and Wellbeing Captains
Two Eco Council Representatives
Two Charity Captains
Two Careers Captains
Two Global Ambassadors

In addition to these roles, students in Year 11 can apply to be a School Prefect, students in Year 10 can apply to be a Peer Mentor to provide support for a student in Year 7 or 8, and students in Year 8 can become Peer Mentors to help new students in Year 7 in their first few weeks at St Albans Girls' School.

The new Senior School Leadership Team are selected during the first half term of the Autumn Term.

Please view the attachments below for more information on student leadership at STAGS.

Student Leadership 2024 - 2025

Student Parliament

It is imperative that students' voices are heard so that our school can move forward with the best interests of it's most valuable participants at the centre.

Every Form Group at St Albans Girls' School has two students who are the representatives of the Form at Student Parliament. The Form Captain and Vice Captain. One representative is present at each Student Parliament. Prior to each meeting the agenda is shared with all students so that the representatives can discuss the topics with their Form Group and then give feedback to Head Students and the Head of Key Stage in the Student Parliament session.

The Head Students meet frequently with senior colleagues to review the minutes from each meeting to ensure that the voice of the students is heard.

Key Areas discussed are:

School environment and resources
Student wellbeing
Teaching and Learning
The wider student experience
The School Improvement Plan

Learner Voice is also a key part of Student Parliament and after each session ‘You said, We did’ actions are promoted and shared with all students and staff.

The House System

Our House System provides a supportive environment that encourages friendly competition, provides opportunities for students to assume responsibility and develop leadership abilities and one that enables students to make a positive contribution to their local community.

We promote and celebrate every achievement of all students, from the classroom to the sports field, from community activities to Performing Art productions and so much more. The collection of house points is highly competitive and allows for both individual and collective achievement to be celebrated at the end of each term and overall, at the end of the year with the crowning of the House Champions.

The House identity is highlighted by regular assemblies where the House Captains encourage the active participation of all students in upcoming house events. Belonging to your house at STAGS is a source of great pride that starts with the school uniform where the blouse denotes the emblem of each STAGS House on the lapel. The House connection continues into the Sixth Form where students have the opportunity to be House Captains in Year 12 and also wear their house 'colours' with pride.

The House Captains are responsible for the planning and delivery of the three core House events: the Winter Fair House Cup, the Spring House Cup and the Summer STAGS Games Cup. In addition to these main events, they support with engagement in our Inter House Sports, the House Bake Off Challenge and many other events organised by different curriculum areas.

The STAGS houses are all named after women who personify STAGS Values and whose stories and achievements act as inspiration to the students. The houses are:

House Champions

2023-2024: Seacole
2022-2023: Austen
2021-2022: Johnson
2018-2019: Bronte
2017-2018: Curie
2016-2017: Austen
2015-2016: Seacole
2014-2015: Hepworth
2013-2014: Franklin
2012-2013: Franklin
2011-2012: Hepworth

Trips and Visits

We believe that offering students opportunities to extend their curriculum is imperative to developing well-rounded students who can draw from a colourful range of experiences during their time at school to help develop their cultural capital and make lifelong memories.

There are numerous day and residential opportunities available to students in each year group. This year we have over 35 different trips and experiences across all curriculum areas. For example, there will be local history trips into St Albans or the opportunity to attend theatre shows in London as well as taking advantage of local expertise with STEM visits to Computacenter or Bletchley Park. For those keen to venture further afield, we offer trips to the Battlefields in Belgium, skiing in Austria, netball in Malta, language trips to France and Madrid, or to visit the glaciers in Iceland and monuments of Washington.

Although a few trips are essential for fieldwork, most trips offered are optional and designed to either complement in-class learning or enhance personal development. Whilst many trips allow students to experience the practical application of theory studied, others support personal research. However, some are just for fun and allow students to develop better relationships and skills.

Please note that whilst some visits/trips are open to the entire school or specific year groups, others will be by invitation only based on subject choices. We are committed to inclusivity and will ensure that places on any trips that are oversubscribed are allocated by ballot and that any families requiring financial assistance are supported.

Below are some images of recent trips both locally and further afield.

For a list of proposed residential across the next three years, please download the relevant document below. This is subject to change, but is published to allow families to make informed decisions about which trips they would like to engage with.

Prospective Trips - 3 Year Plan Residentials 2025 - 2028

School Expeditions

Previous Year 11-13 students have been given the opportunity to embark on a global adventure. School Expeditions to India, Borneo, Norway, Bolivia and Peru have been a tremendous success and a fantastic opportunity for the students who attended.

Previous School Expeditions are documented in the images below:

Ski Trip

STAGS Ski Trip

STAGS have an annual ski trip to Austria. We travel by coach to the vast Ziller Valley, with the largest ski area in Europe and guaranteed snow with access to Glacier skiing.

Each year our students learn to ski but they also learn to love the mountains, the outdoors, they also learn how to manage risk and to enjoy life to the full.

Students of all abilities have enjoyed the trip in the past from complete beginners all the way to our amazing members of the British Ski development squad. All students progress during the week under bespoke instruction.

Skiing is not all about the snow and students also get to enjoy a full apres-ski programme, including activities such as swimming, bowling, an end of the week Disco and the highlight of the week a Tyrollean evening with traditional Austrian competitions such as sawing the log and milking the cow. They also learn to yodel and dance.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

As part of the school’s extra-curricular activities, St Albans Girls' School makes it possible for students to take part in the the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is very popular at St Albans Girls' School. The areas of Skill, Physical Recreation, Volunteering and the Expedition ensure that participants in the scheme gain a wide range of new skills including team work and organisation and enhance their confidence whilst taking greater responsibility for themselves and others. The completion of awards gives participants a sense of achievement in a non-competitive context.

Bronze

Three months for two of the three sections (Volunteering, Skill and Physical Recreation), 6 months for one section. Expedition training, a practice expedition and a two day final expedition with overnight camp.

Gold

The expedition is a four day venture and in addition a residential five day course away from home must be completed.

For further details about the Duke of Edinburgh Award at STAGS please contact dofe@stags.herts.sch.uk.

Useful Links:

eDofE Login

Duke of Edinburgh Awards

OV4 Risk Assessment DofE Qualifying Expedition 2025 OV4 Activ Adventures Trekking Risk Assessment

OV4 Activ Adventures Camping Accommodation Risk Assessment

OV4 Risk Assessment DofE Silver Practice Expedition 2025