Croydon High Junior School
Co-curricular
A broad offering to allow your daughter access to enriching opportunities and new experiences
Our Junior Astra Philosophy
Our Junior Astra programme offers a broad variety of co-curricular clubs. Prevenire Ad Astra means ‘reach for the stars’. The Junior Astra offer falls in line with the every girl, every day philosophy, in that so much choice exists for girls to explore their talents; when they find one they wish to pursue, the school’s structure and experience can enable them to excel.
Our Astra Provision
Our main aim is to provide your daughter with as many co-curricular experiences as possible, which increases as your daughter moves up the school (all our staff run at least one free club once a week and we have external suppliers that run clubs too which carry an additional cost). Clubs are available before, during and after school, from early morning hockey and cross country clubs, to lunchtime mindfulness and chess clubs, to after school Nature Club and Skateboarding. With such a variety on offer, we’re sure your daughter will soon be asking to sign up to extend her day and learn a new skill!
Sports Clubs
Sport at Croydon High is all about discovery. Girls discover eight different sports in Year 3, quickly learning that there is more than one way to be ‘sporty’ at Croydon High. We balance ‘excellence in sport’, with invitational clubs and squads available, with ‘sport for all’ in Juniors, with every girl playing in competitive fixtures for their House, attending training sessions outside lessons and tracking their personal progress. With six netball and tennis courts, a full length swimming pool, all-weather hockey pitch, indoor sports hall, gymnasium and dance studio – girls have the opportunity to learn their chosen sports in first class facilities.
Termly Astra Programme
Each term, we bring out a new Astra Programme and in this brochure, you will find details about the opportunities on offer to your daughter. Our latest brochure can be found below:
Our clubs provision is developed to try to introduce girls to a broader range of subject areas and interests, rather than to provide additional after school care – we have an excellent Ivy Club that runs from 7.15am in the morning to 6.00pm at night.
Co - Curricular FAQs
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Yes. Teachers run at least one club a week, some run or support with more than one club a week. Our support staff often offer a club too.
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The SOCS sign up process runs as a preferential method, where you are given the option to rank the clubs you wish your daughter(s) to attend. We then endeavour to award as many first-choice clubs to pupils as possible, followed by second choice, and so on. Changes can be made to your club preferences while the sign-up window is open. When the sign-up window closes, preferences will be locked, and we will then run the preferences report to allocate the clubs.
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The preference sign-up algorithm remembers who was allocated each club in the previous term(s) and does its best not to repeat that individual in the next term, to give the fairest chance for the girls who missed out.
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Yes. There are waiting lists for clubs that are oversubscribed. We have a two-strike rule, so if a pupil does not turn up to their club more than twice, without a legitimate reason, their place in that club will be relinquished. The waiting list is not a first come first serve basis, a name will be randomly drawn from the waiting list.
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We recognise what the constraint of not knowing clubs in advance can do in terms of childcare. Therefore, we will release our Astra Brochure before the end of each term in preparation for club sign-up. Unfortunately, we are unable to release our Autumn Astra Brochure any sooner than the beginning of the new academic year. In recognition of this, there will be some flexibility in our wraparound care for the first week back next year. This will be outlined in detailed at a later stage.