Extended Learning

The Extended Learning programme at Invicta consists of a wide number of different opportunities for students as part of Extended Schools which will enable students to extend both their extra-curricular and super-curricular engagement. The extensive provision available for the whole school community has been accredited with the highest level of Advanced Status and is deemed to be an outstanding provision.

Opportunities include:

Take a New Challenge
​Under the heading ‘Take on a new Challenge’ we offer an outstanding programme of Clubs and Societies that take place during the lunchtime, after school or at the weekend.  They cover an extensive range of topics and activities which meets the needs of most of our students.  The choice is considerable and range from Bee Keeping to Astronomy.  The Clubs and Societies Programme offers in excess of 60 Clubs and Societies that students can participate.  We are always keen to support new ideas for additional clubs and societies if they are requested.  

Alongside this Extra Curricular provision we now have an established range of Academic HUBS, a number of student led academic discussion groups providing Super Curricular Opportunities.  The programme for this is also promoted within the Clubs and Societies Fair at the start of the new school year.   Students wanting to join a HUB contact the relevant student scholar.  We now have an established programme of HUB conferences that are held three times a year where students present 10 minutes lectures on an academic topic of their choice followed by a Q&A.

The STEM programme for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects offers a fantastic range of activities and competitions.  STEM is also referred to as STEAM (with the addition of the Arts) ensuring that creativity is at the heart of problem solving and new ideas.  Competitions are encouraged across the school and are at a school, local, national and international level.  Competitions are an excellent way for students to extend interests and to continue to engage with subjects that they are no longer studying in a formal way.   

Lectures
This includes an established lecture programme which is primarily for Upper School students but there are a number of lectures that are open to all years and some also occasional lectures for students from Years 7 to 9.  Speakers are primarily from universities, commerce and industry. The lectures are designed to give students an experience of university style lectures and to inspire wider learning. Lectures this year have included:  'Ypres: turning a Belgian city into an outpost of the British Empire, 1919-1939’, "800 Hundred Years of Allington Castle on the Medway River (on the Site of an Anglo-Saxon Encampment 1200 years ago)”, Managing an NHS Trust, ‘Sylphs in eighteenth-century French Literature’ and Women in Greek Drama’.

Masterclasses
​There are also a number of Masterclasses focused around subject clusters or related to sectors of employment. This year they have included Career opportunities in the STEM sector, 'The Surreal Mind', where creative students will take inspiration from the lives of Surrealist artists Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, as told by their granddaughter and also the ’period of the Enlightenment and its influence on Fashion.’ 

Cutural Programme
​There is a cultural programme which includes trips to West End theatres and other arts organisations. Performances this year have included Saturday Night Fever, Mary Poppins and Hamilton.  Iconic films are screened regularly and there are many school focused performances across the creative sector.  Many of the public and corridor areas of the school are used as exhibition and gallery spaces.

Public Speaking and Debating:
Invicta hosts annually the Kent Schools Public Speaking competition and two cross county Kent Schools Debating competitions.  Many schools across Kent are regular participants and it has enabled us to develop partnerships with these schools to encourage and develop these vital communication skills.  We have an established Primary Speaks competition programme which encourages Year 5 pupils from a wide range of Primary Schools to compete in Public Speaking and for Invicta students to take on the roles of mentor and coach.  There are regular Invicta school Debate and Public Speaking competitions and there are many opportunities for students to compete at a national level and also to present and to develop communication skills within the wider school calendar.

University Preparation
​There are opportunities for students to prepare effectively for applications to the top universities though an established Oxbridge programme of workshops, interview preparation and discussion groups and visits to Oxford and Cambridge.  There are growing links with Harvard and Yale universities in the USA.  Invicta has hosted information evenings on behalf of both universities which have been open to students across the region.

For younger students there is the Inspire programme which involves discussion and debate on super curricular topics and academic focused visits to encourage students to begin preparation for aiming high and to broaden horizons.  The Academic Subject Hub discussion groups led by students are popular with Inspire and Oxbridge students.  All of these programmes are open to all students.

EPQ and the Project Qualifications
​There is also a wide range of extended qualifications that the students can take including The Project qualification at levels 1 & 2 and also the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) taken in the Sixth Form.  Invicta is a certified centre for the Art Award Qualification through the Arts Council and students are encouraged to take on these national recognized qualifications at Bronze, Silver or Gold Levels. 

Invicta is also a registered centre for the Arkwright Scholarships in Engineering, one of the most prestigious scholarships open to students in Year 11.  

Another National qualification available is the ‘Duke of Edinburgh Award’.  This is extremely popular at all three levels of Bronze, Silver and Gold.  (Please see section on the website)

Invicta is also a centre for the LAMDA qualification in Public speaking.