High Prior Attainers Programme

The HPA Programme

Ensuring students remain challenged, building their readiness for life beyond Key Stage 4 and assisting with cultivating big aspirations, cannot only be achieved in the classroom. In addition to the rigorous academic curricula students are delivered in their classrooms,  the Royal Liberty School commits to building and providing a diverse programme of extra-curricular events, clubs and initiatives to further support students in their attainment. This programme aims to remain dynamic and reactive to student, parent and teacher feedback. As such you may see elements of this programme added to, amended or re-developed significantly over the course of the academic year. 

This year’s programme has been devised to assist HPA students in achieving and surpassing the potential that they have exhibited throughout their school careers so far. In addition the programme aims to supplement wider Covid-19 catch-up programmes in place at the school, with a particular focus on ensuring opportunities to access to cultural capital, sadly lost over the past two years, which play a key role in inspiring high potential students towards their goals. 

This year’s programme consists of three strands:

Challenge - To ensure that that HPA students are rigorously pushed academically

Inspire - To broaden student horizons and increase cultural capital

Aspire - To develop the skills necessary to allow aspiration to meet inspiration

Below you will find brief descriptions of some of the available activities, trips and programmes available to students over the course of this year. 

Challenge Project (All HPA students) - High Prior Attaining students will be expected to complete at least one piece of additional challenging work per half term. This year, those pieces of work will consist of a series of essays devised around our core school values. By the end of Year 11, all HPA students will have built a portfolio of analytical, philosophical work designed to foster critical thinking, build research skills and develop excellent writing. 

Trips - Following student voice feedback last year on the sectors that students were interested in, the programme for trips has been curated with these sectors in mind. We look forward to taking students to Sports Interactive (SEGA), The Houses of Parliament, The Royal Courts of Justice and Middle Temple, The Whipple Museum and the University of Cambridge over the course of this year. 

Debate and Public Speaking - The link between oracy and attainment is well documented. As such we would encourage our HPA cohort to take advantage of the oracy programmes available to them. At KS3 this consists of the extra-curricular programmes Introductions to Debate, Speechwriting and Public Speaking culminating in a public speaking event for parents at the end of the Summer term. This leads into competitive debate sessions at KS4, with the school supporting students in a variety of competitions. 

Push Yourself - This focus on oracy and public speaking will also be supported in the Spring Term with the ‘Push Yourself’ research project. HPA students will be encouraged to take part in this competition in which they will be tasked with delivering a presentation on ‘something that inspires them’. We hope that as many parents as possible will join us to celebrate the hard work of those students at the Push Yourself presentation event in Spring 2. 

There are also successful elements of last year’s Challenge offer carried over to the new HPA programme. We are delighted to once again offer support for Orwell Scholarship and Eton Summer School places, access to the InvestIn internship programmes as well as tasters for A-Level lessons and interview and personal statement sessions towards the end of the Summer term. 

The Royal Liberty Debating Society

Known simply as 'Debate Club' or 'Competitive Arguing' among its founder members, the RLDS has emerged this year as one of the most popular regular extra-curricular activities available to KS3 students. During sessions students are taught the basics of competitive debate, how to research and formulate potent arguments, how to approach speech writing and how to deliver ideas through effective public speaking. Students of all abilities and experience are very welcome and we would stress that not all debate topics tackled are what we might term traditionally academic. This term students have tackled topics as diverse as the ethics of Elon Musk's space travel programme, Brexit and Veganism to Marvel VS DC, their favourite Christmas movies and whether homelearning should be abolished! 

Should you wish to view an example of one of our debates, 'This house would abolish the monarchy' is available to view below as part of our assembly programme.

At KS3 Debate Club takes the format of three 'Introduction to...' courses (debate, speechwriting and public speaking). At KS4 we build towards more competitive debate and competitions.   

Investin

The Royal Liberty School is proud to work with Investin to provide students with access to both in-person and online internship opportunities in a number of key industries. These internships are a fantastic opportunity for students to receive a hands on experience of what life in certain sectors might entail. Feedback from previous attendees is overwhelmingly positive and fosters real ambition and aspiration among those selected to attend. In addition, the Investin partner programme gives the school access to a number of 'Ambition X' platform passes, granting students access to a huge number of online internship opportunities. 

We are delighted to be able to offer a number of bursaries to cover the cost of these internships. Applications for the next round of internships are now open to students currently in Years 8, 9 and 10. Students should see Mr Phillips for further details or head to the Investin website. 

Alumni

Students now have access to the Alumni area on the Royal Liberty School website. The Alumni area is designed to show current students to some of the outstanding achievements, diverse careers and interesting lives experienced by those that passed through the school in previous years. We aim to continue to build this library of anecdotes and experiences with each outgoing year group encouraged to stay in touch and take part in the ever-expanding network of ex-students. We hope to ensure that better contact is kept with Royal Liberty Alumni through newletters and bulletins with a view to allowing current students to be better aware of and inspired by the successes of their fellow Libertians. 

Selective Schools

Through the Challenge programme the Royal Liberty has provided bespoke support for students who wish to apply to competitive colleges or schools beyond KS4. This may take the form of interview practice, assistance and advice on writing personal statements, or assistance for students to take on academic challenges beyond their current GCSE provision. Over the past few years the Royal Liberty School are proud to have assisted 4 students in successfully winning the Orwell Scholarship at Eton College, with another student joining Eton in the next academic year. 

If your child would like to discuss options with regards to selective education at KS5 please encourage them to organise a meeting with Mr Phillips (pphillips@royalliberty.co.uk) .