University College School

Education at UCS extends far beyond the formal taught curriculum. We offer a genuinely holistic experience to every student, with the opportunity to experience adventurous, aesthetic, charitable, creative, public-spirited, international, entrepreneurial and journalistic activity, as well as the intellectual.

SPORT
Sport - particularly team-games - is an important feature of life at UCS. All students will have two sessions of sport a week. Our aim is that pupils will enjoy themselves, will grow fitter and will learn from the exhilaration of shared endeavour.

The range of sports available is wide: from rugby, soccer and cricket to fencing, basketball and tennis. All students have the chance to represent the school. There is an annual programme of overseas touring covering a variety of sports.

ART, MUSIC & DRAMA
All UCS students are introduced to these subjects in the Year 7 - 9 curriculum. They have the opportunity to participate in creative art outside the curriculum too. Our annual Literary Festival brings writers, film-makers, artists and poets into the school to work closely with students.

School concerts are held throughout the year and all students have the opportunity to participate in music-making (rock and jazz as well as classical singing and playing) of the highest order.

There are ensembles for students of all levels of experience and ability. Our symphony orchestra numbers almost one hundred players. Overseas music tours are arranged each year.  Visit our Music section of the website. 

EXPRESSION
The Lund Theatre is continually busy. Productions range from large-cast musicals to smallscale studio performances.

The emphasis is always upon the highest production values and the widest opportunity for students of all ages to participate in some of the most demanding and fulfilling of team activities.

PARTNERSHIPS AND CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
UCS cannot afford to be inward-looking. We have active partnerships with a variety of schools, both close at hand and far away. We join with South Hampstead High School for a wide range of activities: music, drama, sport, Sixth Form conferences, and overseas exchanges.

All UCS Sixth Formers have the opportunity to spend an afternoon a week working in one of a number of local primary schools and schools for the disabled. We have pioneered curriculum partnership at secondary level too.

Further afield, we work closely with partner schools in Africa (Equatorial College School in Uganda) and in India (Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh). For half a term each year, students focus upon a programme of charitable fundraising. Although overseen by staff, the impetus, the imagination and the choice of charities lies with the pupils.

JOURNALISM
Students have the opportunity to contribute to the school magazine, The Gower, which is produced annually, and to our termly Newsletter, Frognal. In addition, of course, they will often establish magazines or broadsheets of their own - supervised by staff - frequently sold to raise money for charity.

CLUBS & SOCIETIES
It is hard to do justice to the wealth of extra-curricular clubs and societies that meet throughout the school year. All of the subjects of the curriculum are represented.

We regularly welcome distinguished academics, commentators, politicians, journalists, novelists and poets to speak to our students during the lunch-hour.

In keeping with the UCS ethos, students will often take it upon themselves to set up new clubs catering to particular areas of interest or shared activity. This leads to a plethora of film clubs, religious societies, comedy clubs, gaming societies and reading groups that come and go from year to year reflecting the shifting enthusiasms of our pupils. To view a full list of clubs, click here.

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
A UCS education cannot be confined to the working week nor limited to the surroundings of North London. There are many opportunities for pupils of all ages to pursue their studies or enjoy recreational activities further afield. Linguists, classicists, students of art, geographers and historians regularly travel abroad with their teachers to broaden their educational experience.

Sports tours and music tours are arranged on an annual basis. Older pupils have the chance to visit our partner schools in Africa and India after their A-levels are completed. All of our Year 7 pupils are encouraged to join an activities holiday in the Summer Term.

Outdoor activities are increasingly popular. Regular hillwalking trips are organised. UCS students participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and compete each year in the Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor as well as travelling further afield - to mainland Spain, Majorca and Madagascar in recent years.