Learning Beyond The Curriculun Week

Day 5

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better!

Despite being exhausted by the array of activities they had taken part in all week, students still summoned up the energy to participate in some quite gruelling challenges. By foot or by bike, Firle Beacon is quite a challenge - But our mountain bikers  made it!

Others ventured to Friston Forest and Cuckmere Haven and enjoyed the splendid views whilst finding out more about the local flora and fauna. 

In school we continued with some of this week's favourites, The Apprentice, Board Games, crochet and Multi sports. 

New for today we made tea tree light holders out of aluminium drinks cans. Is there no end to the recycling creativity of PCS students?

Also a first this year was CSI - a firm favourite - and one for next year. 

Moving away from our European Culture Days students had great fun finding out more about Japanese Culture. 

Tennis was another huge success with students coaching as well as playing. Next stop - Wimbledon!!

We were really pleased to welcome back from their travels our students who returned from Bude as well as those coming back from Italy and France. It sounds like everybody had an amazing time. 

We will be looking at all the photographs across the week in PDI and students will be sharing all of their experiences with their tutors and their peers. 

PCS staff have thoroughly enjoyed spending the week with the students, engaging with them in activities beyond the classroom and supporting them to try something new and move out of their comfort zones as well as having fun along the way.
What a fantastic week. 

Roll on next year when we will do it all again - even bigger and better!!!! 

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Day 4

We can't believe it's nearly the end of the week! It's been amazing to see so many students try something new, connect with other people they don't know and approach everything so positively and with enthusiasm. 

Our Art and Photography students returned from photographing their way around Brighton yesterday. Once they've put the finishing touches to their art work we'll share it on the website.

Beach Volleyball was another huge success. Some of our students are proving to be great players.

Students made their own juggling balls first thing this morning before they learnt how to juggle. It was just the start of some of their incredible tricks!

 

Digital Creative Writing was busy and tomorrow students will continue with the digitalisation of their stories. We are looking forward to sharing these in PDI next week.

 Students took another Tour to Downlands Court this afternoon and spent the afternoon writing letters of thanks to the residents they spent time with. This could be the start of a great relationship across the generations. More details further down the page.

Carbonara and Tiramisu were on the menu today for the Italian Culture Day, lots of tasty treats. 

We continued to be amazed by the musical talents of our students at our PCS has talent day,

New this year  - Life Saving Surf School was awesome - and what great weather for it.

Board games, Save our seas, Greenfingers, Shakefest, Multi sports,  football, Dungeons and Dragons, The Apprentice, The visit to The Theatre Royal, the Historical Tour of Brighton and of course Piddinghoe again, were all on today's menu as well.

Updates on Bude today - the day was spent bodyboarding - and eating icecreams  -it looks like a lot of fun was had by all.

In Italy students are handling the temperatures well and Mr Loggenberg has reported back that the students have been amazing. The photos look beautiful.

Our students in Paris took in the sites of Sacre Coeur and Montmartre today. Great news that they have the extra day to soak up the last bits of the Parisien experience. 

Visit to Downlands Court

Downlands Court is a retirement village located in Peacehaven. On Monday 7th July  and Thursday 10th July students had the opportunity to visit for the morning.

We walked down to Downlands from PCS and were invited into their large lounge area where already a few residents were sitting having a cup of tea. Our students introduced themselves and started chatting to Ray, Pat, Sylvie, John, Delia, Doris and Dave amongst others.

Ray has taken responsibility for the garden at Downlands and was joined outside by Tianne, Maci and Skye on Monday. They enjoyed looking at the birds in the garden. On Thursday, Skye, Libby and Beth were able to make the most of the sunshine and Ray helped them to make wooden dragonflies.

Inside, Myah and Poppy showed their talents playing giant Jenga and had interesting conversations with Roy and Pat. On Thursday Maisie, Daisy, Willow, Lottie, Poppy, Isla and Darcie meade the whole room jump when their jenga towers collapsed.

The ‘magic table’ was also enjoyed by all the students as Sylvie showed our students how to play the varying games.

Downlands are also fortunate enough to have some virtual reality headsets which for some of our students was their first experience of this technology. 

We were spoilt with refreshments and biscuits as the students chatted and found out about the lives of the residents. The residents were equally interested to find out about what the students study at school and what they like to do in their free time.

Ray had kindly organised a raffle for the students and Myah was the proud winner of £10 on Monday and Chloe the grateful winner on Thursday - lucky them.

 

As we said our goodbyes and walked back to PCS many of the students expressed how much they enjoyed their morning and that they would wish to visit again. They were able to show their appreciation after lunch when they wrote thank you cards and letters, which I am confident will be loved by the residents.

Our day ended with some engaging games and students shared their messages with each other.

Myself, Mrs Tremlett, Miss Murray, Miss Smith and Miss Sydorova were extremely proud of how the students represented PCS and showed exactly what a community school should look like. Thank you all for a lovely day, Nicola Boyd

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Day 3

With another 18 different activities to choose from today, students really excelled in all of the new activities they chose.

Save our Seas students went down to Peacehaven Beach collecting litter along the way. This will be weighed and our climate ambassadors will look at ways that we can encourage the local community to dispose of their waste in a more environmentally friendly way.

Feedback from the Portsmouth Dockyard experience was that it was one of the best trips ever!! Certainly one we'll look to run again in the future.

Whilst students continued their water sports activities at Piddinghoe and their Beach Volleyball fun down at yellowave, students onsite set themselves some great challenges.

Rags to Riches was a fantastically creative activity, with students upcycling old clothes to create some fantastic new products - handbags out of trousers and jeans, as well as jazzing up unloved clothes to make them wearable again. Thank you to Isobel and Cathy for coming to help out.

The orienteering and team building challenges proved very popular today with students displaying some excellent team building skills, a key to success in life.

It was certainly very animated in the anime activity today! Students had the opportunity to try on kimonos as well as find out more about Japanese culture. 

Our crochet students are coming on leaps and bounds, all of the fantastic squares that are being made are going to contribute towards a PCS tapestry. Watch this space.

Our sporty types continued to enjoy their activities, with rounders being a favourite of the afternoon. 

Food is always a key part of any culture and the Spanish Culture day did not fail to impress - students cooked their own paella and then the wonderful dessert Crema de Limon. They also spent the day finding out more about Spain and tasting some delicacies.

The 2 day activity - PCS has talent - had the teachers in awe. The musical ability of our students is incredible. This was just day 1, more to come tomorrow!

News from Paris is that Parc d' Asterix, the typically French theme park is well worth a visit and good fun is being had by all. We're still waiting for photos!

A lovely day was enjoyed by those who chose to read a book for a day. We settled in the library and students and staff read a variety of genres from The Chronicles of Narnia to The Bee Sting.

After break and lunch each student gave a synopsis of our books. Equally impressive Sienna completed in just one day too! 

Computerfest 2025 -  A Day of Digital Discovery!

What a great day it was as students dived headfirst into the world of technology for a special Computerfest event as part of Learning Beyond the Curriculum! Students engaged in a variety of activities designed to spark their interest in computing and showcase the exciting possibilities within the digital realm.

Throughout the day, students had the chance to explore different aspects of computer science and digital literacy. This included: 

•     Coding - Students used Makecode Arcade software and saw their code come to life using the handheld Kitronik arcade devices. 
•     Creative Design: The artistic side of technology shone through with students creating a Nintendo themed character using graphic design software and created their own digital music theme tune for a game.
•     Gaming - Students got the chance to battle it out on Mario Kart and Fifa 25. 

 
The goal of Computerfest was to ignite curiosity, build foundational digital skills, and demonstrate that computing is a diverse and dynamic field with endless opportunities. By providing a hands-on and engaging experience. 

We conclude today's rundown with the latest account from Bude:

Some tired Students woke up this morning after a night of entertainment with the fancy dress. This didn't stop half of our Students head to the sea pool for their morning swim.

After a selection of croissants at breakfast Students got themselves sorted and headed off for caving. This included Students navigating themselves around the complex in small tunnels, remembering which way they went as one wrong turn would lead to a dead end. 

Students dusted themselves off and got showered and changed before walking to the hills of Bude to take part in some mounting boarding. Competitive and fun was had throughout in the Bude sunshine with Students doing today's activities for the first time ever.

Once back to the rooms, evening gear was at the ready and practising was in full flow ready for tonight's entertainment 'Budes got talent'

Students are on the go from morning until night. Well done everyone for your positive attitudes and participation. Sleep well!

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What a day!! Day 2 of our Learning Beyond The Curriculum Week

So much is going on this week for students - off site, locally, further afield - Harry Potter Studios, even further afield - Bude and even further than that - Europe! as well as onsite - at PCS there are so many interesting and fun activities taking place. There really is something to suit everyone.

It's great to hear that after a very early flight all students have arrived safely at their hotel in Italy and are settling in to the hotel about to have their first evening meal.

Over in France our students are having a magnifique time in Paris. After a visit to the Eiffel Tower, they spent the afternoon visiting the PSG stadium.

In school we had our Bake off challenge Day 2. The students used the same ingredients as day 1 and the cakes were equally as professionally presented. Today's winners were...Jake, Atlas and Maci. Well done indeed! Once again, you impressed the judges.

Sweet making was a real treat, honeycomb, fudge, peppermint creams and jellies were all delicious. Although packed into selection boxes, we suspect many won't make it all the way home!

We have so many creative students - nobody had tried quilling until today. Take a look at the amazing artwork creations. These took time and patience and look fantastic.

Students who opted for the French Culture Day started the day with a French breakfast before embarking on a series of French challenges, including who could build the best Eiffel Tower! Playing Pétanque was a highlight of the day.

Sew you think you can Sew? Was hugely popular today and all students who took part rose to the challenge and produced these incredible cushions and bags.

Those students who had never tried crochet before exercised extreme resilience. It's quite tricky! This octopus made by Chloe is absolutely superb.

Our Eco teams went down to the beach together today. We checked in on our fishing line disposal pipe and then trawled the beach for litter to help keep our seas clean and protect our marine life. Back at school, we made bird boxes and signs to put in our butterfly meadow to encourage pollinators.

Back in school, board games was again a popular choice for many and a great way for students to spend time with their friends away from the draw of the computer screen!

Miss Dowling as Alan Sugar leading The Apprentice entertained another group today. They pitched their theme parks to her at the end of the day. She was ruthless with her feedback. Watch this space for a photo of her in action!

Our sporty students enjoyed their football and multisports across the day, working on their fitness and team-building skills.

Keep an eye out for photos later in the week of students who hiked today all the way back from Lewes after a historical tour around the County Town. Well done to all of those who took part in the walk, it would have been quite tiring in this weather!

And to conclude today we'd like to say a massive well done to our year 9 boys who went across the South Downs on a mountain biking experience. A member of the public emailed in with a wonderful message commending them on their conduct and manners.

"I am pretty sure that it was a class of boys cycling today over the old farm road which brings you out in Piddinghoe. I was walking my dog and I stepped to the side to let everyone past...every young man either smiled, thanked me or said good morning and I just wanted to express what polite young men they were. A credit to their parents and school, I hope they enjoyed the cycle ride!"