Activities, outdoor education and trips

Our wide-ranging activities available, from Climbing to Maths Club, complement and enhance the learning that goes on in our classrooms. Music, Art and Drama play a large part of life at the school, as do sport, outdoor pursuits and, for Year 9 pupils, the Terriers programme.

All of the activities on offer are more than just add-on ‘extras’; rather, they form a central part of the well rounded education on offer to pupils. There are opportunities to develop leadership skills, to take on responsibility and to broaden interests.

CCF at Clifton College encourages pupils to develop powers of leadership and organisation. Their training promotes the qualities of responsibility, self-reliance, resourcefulness, endurance, perseverance and tolerance for each other. Pupils may join any of the three sections: Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Clifton College is a Directly Licensed Centre (DLC) which allows us to deliver and issue our own programmes and awards. At Clifton College, we cater for large numbers of pupils who want to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Within the expedition section, we offer opportunities to undertake expeditions on foot or by canoe. We regularly run expeditions in England and Wales, and overseas destinations have included Morocco and Sweden.

The Outdoor Pursuits Programme is a weekly programme where Year 10 pupils follow a programme of various outdoor activities that include: geocaching, archery, low ropes, initiative tasks, bouldering, indoor climbing, first aid and mountain biking. As well as the weekly programme, pupils also participate in two field days where they get to work as a team in height based and water based activities.

Year 9 pupils take part in a Terriers Programme of adventurous activities designed to effectively cultivate leadership, develop resilience and courage, improve physical fitness and enhance teamwork. The activities change every 4th week and include: indoor bouldering and climbing, navigation skills, outdoor first aid, outdoor foraging and cooking, bushcraft and survival training, physical training, problem solving and Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Training.

As well as having the opportunity to do expeditions within the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the Outdoor Education department gives every pupil in the school an opportunity to participate in an overseas expedition which takes place in the summer holidays. In recent years expeditions have taken place to the Swiss Alps, Graian Alps, Julian Alps and Himalayas. All expeditions will involve an element of training so pupils are well prepared to carry out their expedition aim.