Team sports
Football, basketball, volleyball, handball and rugby. Our teams play on Saturday morning.
Student life & rules
School does not stop when the lesson ends.
Clubs, sports, trips, the cafeteria, the gaming room, the music studio — and the ten rules everybody here agrees on.
Student life
The school belongs to the students too.
Every class elects two delegates and together they form the Student Council. They meet the director once a month and they have a budget of £4 000 a year. Last year they bought new benches for the garden.
- Tutor groups: one teacher follows twelve students for the whole year.
- Buddy system: every Year 7 student is paired with a Year 10 mentor.
- Wellbeing: a nurse and a counsellor on site five days a week.
- Student radio: thirty minutes of live music and news every lunchtime.
Clubs & sports
Twenty-four reasons to stay after school
The clubs are between 3.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Every student chooses one club. With four friends and a teacher, you can create a new club.
Individual sports
Swimming, athletics, climbing, fencing and yoga. The climbing wall is open every lunchtime.
Science & technology
Robotics, coding, drones, astronomy and the eco club of the vegetable garden.
Arts & stage
Drama, choir, orchestra, rock band and photography. There are two shows a year.
Words & ideas
The Skylark Post newspaper, debate club, chess, creative writing and the Model United Nations team.
Life skills
Cooking, sewing, first aid, gardening and a volunteering club.
Where students spend their free time
The best rooms are not the classrooms
The cafeteria
Two hot menus every day and one is always vegetarian. In summer we eat on the terrace.
Relaxation areas
Three rooms with sofas, plants, board games and a piano, and one quiet room.
The gaming room
Twelve gaming computers and two consoles. It is open at lunchtime and after 3.30 p.m.
The music studio
A real recording studio with four rooms. Every student can use it for free.
School trips & after-school activities
Every year group travels at least once.
- Year 7: three days in the mountains, with no phones at all.
- Year 9: exchange trips to Lyon and Seville, in host families.
- Year 11: a science trip to a space centre and a wind farm.
- Year 12: one week abroad, organised by the students themselves.
If a family cannot pay a trip, the school pays for it.
After school, the library is open until 6.30 p.m. with two teachers for the homework, and the sports hall until 7 p.m.
School events
The school year, from September to July
05Sep
Welcome Day
Year 7 arrives a day early, with no older students in the building.
12Nov
Open Day
Families visit the campus and talk to teachers and students, 9:00 – 16:00.
05Dec
Winter Science Fair
Forty experiments, presented by Year 9 in the Glasshouse Library.
18Dec
Winter Concert
Choir, orchestra and the rock band, in the main hall. Everyone is invited.
03Feb
Careers Morning
Thirty former students come back to talk about what they do now.
21Mar
Skylark Festival
Three days of theatre, concerts and the big project exhibition.
14May
Sports Day
The whole school on the athletics track. Teachers run too — it is tradition.
04Jul
Leavers' Ceremony
Year 13 says goodbye, under the big oak tree in the courtyard.
School rules
The ten rules of Skylark Academy
There are ten rules in our school. Every student signs them in September.
✓ What you can and can't do
- 1You can use your phone outside and in the common rooms.
- 2You can't use your phone during a lesson: it stays in your connected locker.
- 3You can wear what you want, because there is no uniform at Skylark Academy.
- 4You can't leave the campus during the school day without a written permission.
- 5You can use the library, the climbing wall, the gaming room and the music studio at lunchtime.
! What you must, have to and don't have to do
- 6You must arrive before 9:00, because the classroom door closes at 9:00 exactly.
- 7You have to wear closed shoes in the laboratories and in the workshops.
- 8You must not bully, insult or exclude anybody. This is the only rule with zero tolerance.
- 9You have to put your rubbish in the right bin, because we recycle everything here.
- 10You don't have to join a sports team, but you have to be a member of at least one club.
Why only ten?
Because a rule nobody remembers is not a rule. The ten rules are on a big board in the main hall, and the Student Council can change one rule every year.
The three most important words are: respect, punctuality and curiosity.