SUPER CURRICULAR
Year 10 2025
SUPER CURRICULAR ENRICHMENT
'Super-curricular’ activities are educational activities which go above and beyond the school curriculum. This can be anything from podcasts, documentaries, trips to a museum, reading books, magazines, online programmes and more.
Why engage in super-curricular activities?
This will be particularly important as you continue your academic journey, to enrich your knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. This will also help to boost your academic profile when considering you’re a Levels and post 16 choices. There are many free resources available. The summer holidays are a great opportunity to take time to explore things that you genuinely find interesting and see where your investigations lead you. Here are some suggestions for places to start exploring your own interests independently.
University of Oxford have a really comprehensive list of resources for students 12 - 16. You can explore all resources HERE. General
GO TO:
Business and Economics
Classical Civilisation/Latin
Criminology and Psychology
Design and Engineering
Computer Science
Food and Nutrition
English
Geography
Mathematics
Physical Education
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
MFL
Art and Design
Music
BUSINESS
PODCASTS
The rest is money BBC – Business
TED TALKS
Work is broken. Gen Z can help fix it
How to turn setbacks into success
Is generosity the most underrated leadership skill?
Love, trust and marketing in the age of AI
Books (all available in the school library)
The Trading Game - Gary Stevenson
Great Economists – Linda Yueh
The Great Crashes – Linda Yueh
Follow the Money – Paul Johnson
Doughnut Economics – Kate
Raworth
Why Can’t We Print More Money?
Economics in Ten Simple Questions -
Bank of England (Patel & Meaning)
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight
Bill Gates – Source code
The Diary of a CEO – Steve Bartlett
Economics users guild – Ha Joon
Chang
Undercover economist – Tim Harford
Diary of a CEO
BBC – The Bottom line
A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow
John Lewis: can kinder capitalism compete in ruthless retail? | FT Film - YouTube
Disney: Return of Iger, 'King of Hollywood' | FT Film
AI is transforming the world of work, are we ready for it? | FT Working It
The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK
Elon Musk: CO2 saint or sinner? | FT Film
We need to talk about Brexit | FT Film
The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK
CLASSICAL CIVILISATION/LATIN
Moocs:
i. HarvardX: The Ancient Greek Hero
Discover the literature and heroes of ancient Greece through the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey , the tragedies of Sophocles, the dialogues of Plato, and more.
ii. ColgateX: Greeks at War: Homer at Troy
Gain a broad-based understanding of warfare in ancient Greece through Homer’s account of the Trojan War in the Iliad.
iii. HarvardX: Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature
Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.
iv. ASUx: Western Civilization: Ancient and Medieval Europe
Learn about the origins and development of Western societies and institutions from the ancient world through the Middle Ages in this credit-eligible course.
PODCASTS
Summer schools: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/classics/open-days-outreach/summer-schools Museums and Exhibitions: Legion: life in the Roman Army, The British Museum
The Ancients –History Hit
The History of Rome – Mike Duncan
The Fall of the Roman Empire – Nick Holmes
New Designers | Leading London Graduate Design Show
EDT Insight into University (Headstart & Inspire)
(etrust.org.uk) (Virtual insight into studying STEM subjects at University)
TUTORIALS AND MINI-PROJECTS:
Raspberry Pi Foundation website has many fun coding projects and activities, which use a range of languages and of different levels of difficulty.
Code.org is a non-profit organisation dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and a leading provider of computer science resources.
W3Schools is a school for web developers, covering all the aspects of web development, including the Python programming language, JavaScript, HTML and CSS
Codecademy has a range of free introductory courses on Python and other programming languages.
freeCodeCamp is interactive learning web platform with a number of free introductory Python courses.
Greenfoot teaches object orientation with Java. Create 'actors' which live in 'worlds' to build games, simulations, and other graphical programs.
The University of Helsinki offer a range of MOOCs including an ‘Introduction to Programming’ in Python and ‘Java Programming’.
COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSES:
Harvard University’s CS50: Introduction to Computer Science is a freely available online course. Although this course quickly moves on to more advanced topics, the first lecture (lecture 0) provides an excellent introduction to computer science concepts.
COMPETITIONS:
The National Cipher Challenge is an annual cryptographic competition organised by the University of Southampton School of Mathematics.
The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition is aimed at secondary school children in the UK up to Year 11. The competition is organised by the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester.
The Bebras Computing Challenge is a national competition which introduces computational thinking.
The British Informatics Olympiad is a national computing competition for schools and colleges. =
COMPUTER SCIENCE LEVEL
FOOD AND NUTRITION
PODCASTS
The Institute for Optimum Nutrition Podcast
Kitchen Club Podcast - Sarah Malcolm
podcast Archives - Laura Thomas, PhD | Registered Nutritionist | Wellness Advocate
Podcasts | olivemagazine
Food Psych Podcast
Podcast | Deliciously Ella (UK)
Podcast | Food Foundation
nutrition | University of Oxford Podcasts
Competitions and Awards | Institute of Food Science and Technology
TED TALKS
News Archives - Food & Nutrition Magazine (foodandnutrition.org)
Food Matters Live: Latest news, events, podcasts and more...
NHS England » Food and nutrition Articles - BDA
Nutrition https://www.who.int/healthtopics/nutrition#tab=tab 1
Diet & nutrition - BBC News
Nutrition News -- ScienceDaily
All Nutrition Articles | Page 1Harvard Health
Lauren Senior: Why eating healthy looks different for everyone | TED Talk
Daisy York: Beyond Calories: 3 Principles for Health & Happiness | TED Talk
Gavin Kibble: What's eating the UK? A joined up strategy for dealing with food poverty | TED Talk
The role of food in health | Dr Rupy Aujla | TEDxBristol
Jamie Oliver: Teach every child about food | TED Talk
Diet, Diversity and the Future of Food | Barbara Bray MBE | TEDxUoChester - YouTube
ENGLISH
If you are interested in entering, please consult the respective websites for rules and details.
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
* one category is 16 to 19 year olds
* word count is between 800 - 2000 words
* a story about anytime before you were born
* can be a story, an extract from longer work, diary extract, a letter, poetry, drama or reportage
* 2025 submissions not yet open (opens August) but you can start now
BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, JB Priestley
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Macbeth In Our Time
Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize podcast
BBC Bitesize Macbeth podcast series
GCSELitCast: focuses primarily on An Inspector Calls and there are some podcasts on poetry
New Yorker fiction- on writing short stories
FRANK SKINNER’S POETRY PODCAST
Frank Skinner loves poetry. And he thinks you might like it too. Join Frank each week as he takes you through some of his choice picks of poems. There may be laughter. There may be tears. There will certainly be poetry. (He has produced 80+ podcasts on a wide variety of poets, this one on Seamus Heaney is just one example)
TED TALKS
Ted Talk: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘The Danger of a Single Story’
https://www.rgs.org/schools/competitions/young-geographer-of-the-year/2025-competition
MOOCS
Geography MOOC and Free Online Courses | MOOC List (mooc-list.com)
Netflix documentaries such as Kiss the ground, Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy and Lead me Home are also a valuable resource.
TED Talk
From our Own Correspondent HERE
Costing the Earth HERE
Rare Earth HERE
BBC The Food Programme HERE Jobs for a green future: HERE
Space tourism
Students are encouraged to borrow books from the Geography Library (outside of Newcastle). All books are free to borrow and include titles such as Prisoners of Geography and Climate Change is racist.
The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets – Simon Singh
Maths on Toast: The Number 1 Show
@MathsOnToastChannel on youtube
Numberphile
@numberphile on youtube
PODCASTS
The maths appeal podcast
The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh
The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Guardian Sports Quiz
Lance – Watch LANCE | Full episodes | Disney+
Sprint film Watch SPRINT | Netflix Official Site
Vini Jr & Big George Foreman film Watch Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World | Netflix
PODCASTS
Sports Agent podcast The Sports Agents | Podcast on Spotify High Performance podcast High Performance
The Greatest, Matthew Syed: a book about the reasons why some athletes excel and others do not
Bounce, Matthew Syed: a book about the myth of talent and the power of practice
BIOLOGY
Molecular Biology - Part 1: DNA Replication and Repair
The Science Behind Forensic Science
Introduction to Anatomy: Learning the Anatomical Alphabet
Virtual work experience - LifeArc team
The Cambridge Upper Secondary Science Competition, run by Cambridge Assessment, is an exciting extra-curricular activity for teams of aspiring scientists. Projects may involve laboratory work and should include creative and collaborative working, critical thinking and reflection.
"Biology: The Whole Story" – University of Oxford Video Series This video series, presented by Professor Lindsay Turnbull from the University of Oxford's Department of Biology, guides viewers through key biological concepts, building a comprehensive picture of what biology entails. It's an excellent resource for GCSE students seeking a university-level perspective on biology.podcasts.ox.ac.uk - WATCH HERE
This week in Evolution
Boost your biology
Tumble is a science podcast hosted by a science journalist and a teacher, exploring stories of scientific discovery. It delves into questions that spark curiosity, explaining how science works and the journey to knowledge. This podcast is particularly engaging for younger audiences and can inspire a deeper interest in biology., thebiologist.rsb.org.uk+1reddit.com+1 - LISTEN HERE
Peterhouse Kelvin Biological Sciences Essay Competition (2024 closed – next year)
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
CHEMISTRY
Basic Analytical Chemistry
Discovering Science: Medicinal Chemistry
Ted Talk the dark history of arsenic
Ted Talk: why your phone battery gets worse over time
Cambridge Chemistry Challenge
https://wwwc3l6 com/
Chemistry for your life
Clinical Chemistry Podcast
Look at the plastic series
The Elements of Chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
CHEMISTRY
Basic Analytical Chemistry
Discovering Science: Medicinal Chemistry
Ted Talk the dark history of arsenic
Ted Talk: why your phone battery gets worse over time
Cambridge Chemistry Challenge
https://wwwc3l6 com/
Chemistry for your life
Clinical Chemistry Podcast
Look at the plastic series
The Elements of Chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
AstroTech: The Science and Technology behind Astronomical Discovery
Particle physics
Dr Becky’s YouTube channel (Astrophysicist from Oxford University)
Physics undergraduate virtual experience
James Webb Space Telescope’s 3 BIG mysteries of the early Universe
Podcasts and videos on the Oxford Sparks website
What’s the origin of water on Earth?
Physics Frontier https://player.fm/series/physics-frontiers
Physics world weekly
https://player.fm/series/physics-world-weekly-podcast
Environmental Physics Group annual essay competition
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
A day in the life of a quantum physicist
News from Oxford University physics research
MFL
competitions
National poetry translation competition
We have been invited to take part in the Stephen Spender prize for poetry translation. This is a major national competition which involves translating a poem into English from a selection and also writing a piece in English about what you think the poem is about and a reaction to it. Please contact Mr Woolnough if you would like to take part, just saying which language you would like to translate from. You can take part in French, German and Spanish but also in a wide range of other languages, so if you have a knowledge of a different language there will probably be a category for you.
LATIN AMERICA FRENCH AND SPANISH
Podcasts | Institute of Latin American Studies
The Latin American History Podcasts
GERMAN
Encore: How Latin Became the Romance LanguagesTides of History
Coffee Break German - Coffee Break Languages History of the Germans | Podcast on Spotify
INTRODUCTION TO PORTUGUESE
Look at the Modern Languages section on Clickview where you have access to a range of films in French, German and Spanish (with English subtitles!)
French - French | ClickView German - German | ClickView Spanish - Spanish | ClickView
INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN
Learn How to Talk about Your Likes in Italian in 3 Minutes
These German TV series are available on Netflix. You can put on English subtitles, or (if you are feeling brave!) you can watch them with German subtitles: Exterritorial, Cassandra, The Signal, Biohackers, Four in a van, Isi & Ossi, Kitz, Berlin, Berlin: Lolle on the Run, Holiday Secrets
ART AND DESIGN
TEXTILES EXHIBITIONS
The Fashion and Textiles Museum. The art of mankind exhibition
Event; 28 Mar 2025 – 7 Sep 2025
Schedule; Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11.00 –18.00 (last entry 17.15)
The V&A Museum Opens 7 June 2025
ART EXHIBITIONS
CLICK HERE TO SEE LIST OF ART EXHIBITIONS RUNNING OVER THE SUMMER
PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERIES
The Photographers Gallery
This one is in connection with identity & portraits as it is a free selection of university photography student work to see at the National Portrait Gallery
Love to Sew podcast
MUSIC
Composer of the Week BBC Radio 3Composer of the Week - Available now
Sound of Gaming BBC Radio 3 - Sound of Gaming - Available now
Switched on Pop Switched On Pop - A Podcast About Pop Music
Radiolab (which is a science and philosophy podcast but often looks at music, sound and the brain)
https://radiolab.org/
TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCTION
Try Soundtrap – Miss Wardil can set you up with a free school account which means you get access to all features at no cost
Recreate a favourite song or produce an original track.
Free Music Production Workshop | Youth Music
COMPETITIONS
BBC Radio 3 - BBC PromsBBC Young Composer
This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin
The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross
How Music Works by David Byrne
Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste by Nolan Gasser
She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music by Lucy O’Brien
MUSIC CODING
Use Sonic Pi to code music and understand rhythm and structure through programming.
PERFORMANCES
Attend a live performance at a local venue or stream one online.
Explore museums like the Royal College of Music Museum in London.
TED TALKS PODCASTS
