Teaching children about giving back to wider community is a valuable life lesson best started young. We speak to three schools about their approach to encouraging pupils to engage with good causes and find ways to help and support others
The Downs Malvern
At The Downs Malvern, there’s a wide-ranging approach to charitable activities involving all members of the school community. There’s a Macmillan Coffee Morning hosted here, organised by the Parents’ organisation and the Friends of The Downs. Children are enthusiastic participants in that and also in the events they organise. The recent Red Nose Day was led by Senior children, who organised stalls and games for the younger pupils to enjoy, while supporting the charity’s work.
A major annual event is Earth Week, led by the school’s Eco-Team. They organise a brilliant range of activities involving the whole school and spanning the curriculum. Initiatives have included a Swap Shop and car-pooling and ‘run to school’. Children go meat-free for the week with a special menu delivered by the catering team.
One of the most popular events in Earth Week has been the ‘Trash-Fash’ fashion show, where children design and create extraordinary outfits from recycled materials. All this sits alongside eco activities in the boarding house and a sponsored fun run – recently children raised over £2,000 in support of the Marine Conservation Society. All children get involved and some also make produce or take part in additional sponsored event for charities they really care about.
Alongside these events, there’s House Charities Day, where each House will research and then vote on the cause to support. Recently, funds have been raised for Air Ambulance, British Heart Foundation, Water Aid and Dementia Café, Malvern. As well as being enthusiastic supporters of Comic Relief every year, pupils always get behind Children in Need.
The school has ongoing relationships with a local care home and a nearby hospice. This gives children a local connection and means the school can organise involvement in regular events. For instance, the youngest children in EYFS visit and sing fortnightly as part of a local initiative called ‘Debutots’.
Christmas brings extra initiatives, as children support the ‘Teams 4 U’ Christmas shoe box appeal for children in Eastern Europe. Recently, they sent lots of bags full of uniform donated by the children and parents to a school in Romania. School Prefects organise food bank collections as an alternative to the traditional ‘secret Santa’ – pupils are happy to give up a gift to help others.
The school’s Community Engagement Officer, Polly Nuttall liaises with the volunteers from the Malvern Hills Branch of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) to identify the best ways to help out. This has included support for a nearly new sale and harnessing school spaces for a paediatric first aid courses for local parents. The children love getting involved in a free Friday morning playgroup at the school called ‘Hoot’, suggesting activities and games which they then set up and tidy away.
Children at The Downs Malvern are always keen to suggest and support specific initiatives – for instance, raising funds for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) via a production of Yanomamo – an awareness-raising musical about deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. The Downs Malvern Headmaster Andy Nuttall says pupils are keen on fundraising, but also actively researching charities and presenting facts to the whole school in assembly. They have also written to charities to ask for speakers to talk to them in assemblies.
The school finds that children recognise charitable causes as both worthwhile and rewarding. The opportunity to take ownership and take responsibility for involvement in raising funds and awareness builds a sense of responsibility. Importantly, the recognise that contributing doesn’t just mean giving money, but also giving time, making produce and giving opportunities to others. All this, says Andy Nuttall, adds understanding of important issues and other people’s situations, despite children’s relatively limited life experience. “It helps to develop our young people into responsible, empathetic members of society,” he adds.
The Downs Malvern thedownsmalvern.org.uk
York House School
One of the three pupil aims at York House School in Hertfordshire directly relates to being charitable, says Assistant Head (Pastoral) and Head of Upper School Michael Gedye. “It is our challenge to pupils to ‘leave people and places better than they find them’.” Located near Rickmansworth, the prep ensures that charitable giving plays a key role in school life. The school has a Head of Charities, who ensures the right mix of local and global organisations and ways to lend support.
Fundraising takes place throughout the year, and Friends of York House committee run events that benefit specific charities alongside the school. The school council ensures pupils have a voice in this. They give their input from the pupil perspective on charities and fundraising, as well as on initiatives such as litter picking and tree planting that support the local community.
York House has ongoing relationships with local organisations, including the Watford Blind Centre and the Peace Hospice, which children visit regularly. The school is also active in local sports events, participating each year in Sport for Schools and running sports events throughout the year. These include hockey skills festivals in partnership with The Hockey Lab and a recent U11 Girls’ five-a-side football tournament for local primaries. Other successful events include cross-country races, lacrosse skills and athletics coaching.
The Head of Co-Curricular and Head of Outdoor Education have initiated an outreach programme to provide opportunities that enable other schools, plus clubs and community groups, to benefit from access to school facilities, outdoor education experiences and coaching from York House Staff. The school’s relationship with local Scout groups gives them access to its assault course and mountain bike track, as well as spaces for orienteering and kayaking – also camp outs in the grounds.
An annual eco-forum involving pupils from 14 schools is an opportunity for young people to discuss the environment, sustainability and ways to make positive changes. There are also House Days and ‘home clothes’ (mufti) days to raise money for local and global charities. Alongside many more well-known charities, pupils are enthusiastic supporters of The Proyecto Titi project which will allow York House to be part of Colombia’s world-first community-funded tropical forest.
York House says pupils thrive when they are given responsibility to do something positive for others – whether it is volunteering at a local partner organisation or reading to younger children. One important element in this is teaching children about those experiencing adversity – and providing opportunities to learn about the many ways to help beyond money – ideas also explored through the PHSE and RE curriculums.
For York House, it’s about educating children not to take things for granted and be active in getting behind good causes. “It teaches pupils the need for society to be full of upstanders not bystanders – those who stand up and take responsibility and action for others,” adds Michael Gedye.
York House School york-house.com
Broomwood
At Broomwood, a group of three schools and a nursery located in south-west London close to Wandsworth Common, there are very strong community roots. This extends to partnerships with local organisations and good causes. Every two years schools choose two local charities to support, with pupils voting from a shortlist suggested by parents, teachers or pupils themselves.
There are also close links with other charities and outreach programmes – supported enthusiastically by pupils. It may be a one-off fundraising event or sometimes more regular support. For instance, with the school’s support for Little Village (a London-wide charity for families with babies and young children) there are regular donation drives for clothes, toys and other essential kit, and the pupils themselves then sort all the donations for the charity. Lots of seasonal events or responses to specific appeals also take place – for instance, concerts to support Ukraine, annual carols by candlelight, fun runs and a Christmas present drive for a local hospital’s children’s ward.
There’s also an ongoing partnership with the local church, St Luke’s. Every week a few pupils head up to engage with people from its community group. They perform or share work they have completed or just talk and swap stories. It is a great multi-generational community space that the school says benefits children as well as adults. Broomwood pupils take their involvement in charity and giving back very seriously – leading the cake sales, voting on charities and fundraising enthusiastically They even fundraise on their own at home, as well as engaging through visits and volunteering or more active events such as abseiling for the local hospital. All the positives from these activities are shared via assemblies – which often include guest speaker visits from charities and groups.
The Broomwood team believe the real value of teaching children early lessons in giving back is that it helps them gain a deeper sense of the world around them – helping them see things from the perspectives of others. Focusing on giving rather than receiving also builds self-worth, as children feel proud of their achievements and ability to support a good cause help others – be it family, friends or wider community.
Broomwood broomwood.com
Further reading: Teaching tomorrow’s skills
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