The potential of our pupils can lie in any sphere and the co-curriculum provides us with an opportunity to discover that potential, nurture it, and support it!
It’s crucial to the all-round development of our young people, giving them the chance to build crucial life skills and friendships and find their passions. Having fun is also a major goal of the co-curriculum and we want everyone to get involved; so we aim to provide something for everyone.
The co-curricular list is enormous, and if there’s an activity that pupils want to do but we don’t yet offer, we support them to start up their own clubs, which in itself is a great learning experience!
Across the Senior Years there are around 60 clubs and activities, with opportunities ranging from archaeology, calligraphy and mahjong, debating, Dungeons and Dragons, and fencing, to machine knitting, rocket-building, Q+, Sunday hillwalking, and pupil newspaper.
Included in our co-curriculum are countless music and sport opportunities.
Did you know that one of our bands – our Pipe Band – was crowned as World Champions in 2022!? Or that in 2023 the School retained its Inspiresport Boys National 2 (East) Schools rugby Conference title!?
Every year we stage our Co-curricular Fair, a freshers fair-style event showcasing the huge range of exciting activities which pupils in F1-F6 can get stuck into outside of their timetabled lessons. Narrowing their choices down to a manageable number can be a tricky task for our pupils!
The School has a very busy DofE programme.
The Award is a challenging programme of leisure time activities, designed to encourage young people to learn new skills, help others, and experience adventure in the outdoors.
There are three progressive programmes which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award, and pupils at HSD participate in all three levels. Pupils create their own DofE programme by finding a volunteering, physical and skills activity of their interest, before undertaking a final assessed expedition after undergoing a training day and practice expedition. For Gold only, they also take part in a residential expedition of their choice.
Through participation pupils make new friends, develop social and inter-personal skills and increase their initiative, independence and self-confidence. Completion of the assessed expedition and the whole award gives a great sense of achievement. The award is highly prestigious and is valued by colleges, universities and employers.
The CCF seeks to develop team players and leaders as well as resilient, robust and confident individuals.
Through a varied training programme, pupils develop a whole range of skills which are vital in today’s world and enhance a pupil’s personal and social development. These include leadership, responsibility, self-reliance, self-confidence, resourcefulness, endurance, perseverance, teamwork and effective communication.
The CCF training syllabus is both challenging and diverse. There is a mixture of traditional military skills such as drill, weaponcraft, shooting and obstacle courses, as well as outdoor pursuits such as rock-climbing, kayaking, canoeing, sailing and mountain biking. Other activities include survival training, martial arts and teambuilding activities. Residential camps take place each summer.
Membership of the Contingent is voluntary, with self-discipline and responsibility therefore assuming great importance.
Our CCF is over 100 years old! In February 2018, the Force celebrated the 100th anniversary of its first ever parade. Read all about it.
Every year, our pupils – and staff – eagerly throw themselves into the challenge of raising money for good causes.
In the past 5 years alone, the School has raised a total of more than £83,000 for a variety of local, national and international charitable causes.
Charity fundraising is embraced throughout the school, forming a core part of our co-curriculum, and helping our pupils appreciate their roles within society and their responsibility to the wider world.
Many events and initiatives are organised by the School’s established fundraising groups, which in the Senior Years includes the pupil-run Interact Club and the High Helpers team – a group of pupils who help with the running of various fundraising events.
Lots of our pupils also volunteer for good causes, either through organised activities such as enrichment or the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or, inspired by their involvement in a particular fundraising campaign, in their own free time. In school year 2022/23 alone, our pupils spent more than 10,000 hours volunteering with various local organisations, clubs and charities.
Trips are an engaging part of the learning process in the Senior Years.
They are designed to keep the learning process fresh, exciting and relevant, and offer our pupils the chance to explore and find new meaning in concepts and subjects which have been introduced in the classroom.
The History department has taken pupils to visit key sites in Kraków, Berlin, the US and the WW1 Battlefields of France and Belgium; the Geography department leads an annual field trip to Barcelona; and pupils studying Classics have the chance to immerse themselves in the world of ancient civilizations through trips to Greece and Rome in alternating years.
In addition, an annual skiing trip in the Alps for F1 and F2 pupils takes place each Spring; Winter Skills excursions allow pupils to develop essential outdoor skills; a STEM-themed trip to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida was a real highlight for our pupils in Autumn 2023; a cross-curricular trip organised by Drama, Computing Science and Technology gave pupils a range of inspiring experiences in California; and pupils in F5 and F6 have enjoyed life-changing trips to Ecuador and the Galapagos, and Malawi and Tanzania.
The High School of Dundee is a charity, registered in Scotland under the following nomenclature: Corporation of The High School of Dundee (SC011522), High School of Dundee Foundation (SC030842) and High School of Dundee Scholarship Fund (SC011441)
