Co-curricular | Woldingham School

We have a rich and varied co-curricular programme with more than 100 clubs and activities to choose from. Students are encouraged to balance study with activity, and to be committed and proud of their wider abilities. Our house system fosters community across the school, with a busy programme of activities and competitions. Our outreach programme grows every year led by our students’ desire to give something back to our local and wider community.

House system

Woldingham has four mixed-age Houses, each of which promotes a spirit of community among girls of different ages and staff. Girls belong to one of four houses named after Patrons with a close association to the Society of the Sacred Heart.

Barat takes its name from Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, who founded the order of the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800
Mother Mabel Digby is the patron of Digby House; she was Mother Superior at Roehampton and later Mother General of the Society of the Sacred Heart
Duchesne House honours Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, who achieved her lifetime dream of doing God’s work living among Native Americans
Stuart House is named after Mother Janet Stuart, who was Mother Superior at Roehampton and Mother General of the Society of the Sacred Heart

Tutor groups are arranged by House and students remain in their allocated House throughout their time at Woldingham. Houses organise a wide variety of activities including charity fund-raising events, inter-House competitions and, a highlight of the year, the House Festival in September. House assemblies are held fortnightly. Each House has its own Mass and feast where students and staff celebrate together and focus their fund-raising efforts.

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Sport

Sport is extremely important to life at Woldingham and plays a vital role in supporting physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Sport is about enjoyment, inclusion, team spirit, fitness, competition and performance. By the time our students leave, our aim is for them to have a lifelong commitment to sport and healthy living. We rightly celebrate the achievements of our athletes, some of whom represent their county and even country, and our school teams who do well in local and regional competitions.

For more information on sporting excellence and scholarships at Woldingham, click here.

Sports facilities

Woldingham has excellent sports facilities. Our sports centre includes a large sports hall, which had a new playing surface in autumn 2021, two squash courts and a fitness studio with a wide range of gym equipment. The dance/gymnastics studio was fully refurbished in 2021 and includes a state of the art sprung floor. We have extensive outdoor courts and pitches, including an all-weather pitch, an indoor tennis dome and an indoor swimming pool.

Watch our video to find out why we love sport at Woldingham.

PE Programme

There is an active programme of PE lessons in which all girls, including Sixth Form, participate. These include netball, hockey, cricket, tennis and athletics.

In the autumn and spring terms, netball and hockey are our major sports. In the summer we play cricket, tennis and athletics. In addition, students compete in sports such as swimming and cross country. We place great value in being part of a team as well as excelling as an individual.

The school has a busy weekday and Saturday fixture list and participates in district and county tournaments. Squads and school teams emerge from the regular training sessions. Attendance and commitment are vital for those wishing to represent the school.

There are strongly contested House sport competitions throughout the year, culminating in our annual sports day. We also offer a fantastic range of sport trips within the UK and overseas.

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Sports clubs and activities

Girls have a huge range of additional sports clubs and activities to choose from. Our philosophy is about personal improvement whatever the starting point. Choices include:

Badminton
Boxercise
Cricket
Cross country running
Fencing
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Hockey
Netball
Rock climbing
Scuba diving
Swimming
Tabata
Taekwondo
Trampolining
Water polo

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Performing arts

Woldingham’s Millennium Centre has some of the best facilities for music and drama performance of any school in the country. The 630-seater acoustically designed Dineen Auditorium includes an orchestra pit and fully computerised sound and lighting system. The Millennium Centre also has recital and rehearsal rooms, a studio theatre, wardrobe room, dressing rooms and fantastic foyer area.

Music

The music department is a busy and exciting place. Music scholars and other talented musicians can be heard throughout the day in lessons and in practice rooms. There is a wide range of choirs, ensembles, bands and groups for students of all abilities.

The music department has an excellent Recital Room, iMAC computer suite, state of the art 24 track digital recording studio, keyboard studio, string and woodwind studios and numerous practice rooms.

Alongside curriculum music lessons, which all take in Years 7-9, students can learn one or more musical instruments, and many have individual singing lessons with specialist instrument and voice teachers.

For more information about music excellence and scholarship at Woldingham, click here.

There is a huge range of co-curricular musical activities. All these ensembles are run by our experienced full-time and peripatetic staff. Students of all standards are welcomed and there is a busy concert schedule, providing all girls with opportunities for public performance.

Ensembles include:

Junior Choir (Years 7-8)
Senior Choir (Years 9-Upper Sixth)
Amaris (competition choir, by audition)
Sinfonietta (grades 1-4)
Symphony Orchestra (grade 5+)
Scholars' Ensemble (music scholars)
Percussion Ensemble
Flutissimo (flute ensemble)
Jazz Band
Chamber music ensembles (various)

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Drama

The quality of the theatre production is exceptional. All girls take curriculum drama lessons in Years 7-9. Drama is a popular GCSE choice with some girls choosing to continue through to A Level. Most years there are students who study drama at university and several Woldingham alumnae have forged successful acting careers. But it’s not just the drama students who take part. All girls are encouraged to be involved in theatre productions as an important part of academic and personal development.

Woldingham’s superb facilities provide students with the opportunity to take part in major productions and workshop performances of scripted and devised work, both front and back stage.

For more information about drama and performing arts excellence and scholarship at Woldingham, click here.

The main Dineen Auditorium has industry standard sound and lighting control rooms, scenery construction dock, wardrobe room for costume and prop construction, dressing rooms and a separate fully-equipped Studio Theatre.

We stage at least three major productions each year. The productions are always of an exceptionally high standard.

In recent years several students have been selected for the National Youth Theatre and National Youth Music Theatre.

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Clubs and activities

There is an extensive choice of lunchtime and after-school activities. Students relish the opportunity to try something new – or improve an existing skill - challenging themselves intellectually, physically and practically. Many a lifelong interest has been sparked by Woldingham girls’ energetic participation in a myriad of different activities.

Current clubs and activities include:

Sport

Badminton
Boxercise
Cricket
Cross country running
Fencing
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Hockey
Horse riding
Netball
Rock climbing
Scuba diving
Sports fitness
Swimming
Tabata
Taekwondo
Trampolining
Waterpolo

Performing Arts

Acting for screen & film production
Amaris
Ballet
Chamber music
Choreography
Dance with attitude
Drama
Flutissimo
Glee Club
Jazz band
Junior choir
Percussion ensemble
Senior choir
Sinfonietta
String ensemble
Symphony orchestra
Technical theatre

Extra-curricular

Art club
Beekeeping society
Book club
Chemistry cosmetics
Chemistry society
Classics society
Crochet club
Current affairs
Debating
DJ club
Explorers club
Gardening club
History society
Junior medics society
Maths competition club
Model United Nations
Physics society
REthink
Shakespeare society
STEM society
Tea club

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