Charities and Community Service

Charity

The supporting of charities forms an important feature of every term in the Lower School. The School Council named Pupil Vice decides which charities will be supported during the term and discusses with staff the events we will be holding.

There is an event each term organised by one of the Houses and this is often run in conjunction with a non-uniform or dressing-up day. Our major charity event of the year is always the Christmas Fair. This is run entirely by pupils, although parents often help to man the stalls on the day!

In the last year we have raised over £8000 for different causes. An important part of fund-raising involves a visit by the chosen charity to explain to pupils how the money they raised will be used.

Over recent years we have undertaken the following charity events:

Harvest Festival - for the Salvation Army
Jeans for Genes- silver Coin Challenge - for Genetic Research
Shoebox Appeal - Nelsons Journey
Carol Service - for Night Shelter
Christmas Fair - EACH
Bottle Tombola - Guide Dogs
Non-Uniform Days - Save the Children
Colour Run - Street Child

Community Service

Our Upper Three pupils are also encouraged to undertake the Lower School Service Award, with one part of the award focusing on carrying out some Community Service in their local area. Recently this has included pupils singing and performing at local nursing homes, collecting litter, volunteering in local community centres and cleaning all the road signs in their local villages! The school was recognised for the pupils’ outstanding contribution to communities with a national TES award.

Find out more about our recent charity and community service work below:

Dylan, Lower 2, Aspires to Make a Difference

By Eleanor Lewis • June 19, 2026

Over the May half term, Lower Two pupil Dylan travelled to Kenya with his family and other volunteers to help with building work at the Jubilee Academy, Nakuru. The school was built in corrugated steel in 1998 to provide free schooling to local children. It was subsequently closed in 2019 when a new law was introduced that insisted that all schools should be made from brick. Undeterred, work started to rebuild the school. Currently, it is an infant school. However, due to the difficulty its pupils have in finding a school to attend once they have left, Jubilee Academy is committed to expanding to allow the children to continue their education. School can be the only place where children have a nutritious meal, so if they stay in school they have a greater likelihood of remaining healthy. Work had already started on building new classrooms, so Dylan helped to decorate them and worked on creating a new toilet block. During his rest periods he enjoyed playing football with the pupils there. Before the trip, he had called upon his year group to raise money to buy backpacks for the school in return for wearing Kenya's national flag colours for a day. Lower Two pupils were keen to do this and they also wrote letters to the children at Jubilee. Dylan's mother commented, "Seeing the children open the letters and see that someone has written them a letter just to them was priceless. I will remember their reactions for ever." Receiving replies from their Kenyan friends was equally exciting and fulfilling for our Lower Two pupils. Dylan worked incredibly hard in Nakuru as the youngest volunteer the organisation had ever welcomed. Not only did he learn new practical skills in painting, plastering and carpentry, he gained new friends, and discovered that football really is a shared language across the world. His friends and teachers are proud of what he helped to achieve on his trip.

The Lower School Christmas Fair 2025

By Eleanor Lewis • December 11, 2025

The Lower School Christmas Fair on Saturday was a wonderful event, full of festive fun and brilliant community spirit. The children did an amazing job running their stalls and favourites such as the bottle tombola and raffle proved as popular as ever. Thanks to the hard work and support of our pupils, parents and staff, £3,251 was raised for The Hamlet Centre in Norwich. A huge thank you to everyone involved - a fantastic amount and a fantastic morning!

Lower 2 Pupil, Ethan, Inspired to Make a Difference

By Eleanor Lewis • December 5, 2025

Lower School pupil, Ethan, has been incredibly busy raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. "As everyone knows - I love rugby! When I heard the news about Lewis Moody - I decided I wanted to raise money for the MND association. I took inspiration from Kevin Sinfield who does 7 ultra marathons in 7 days. I decided to ride my bike for 7 days doing 1 mile a day! My initial target was £100. We changed it to £500 and now my total is sitting at £721!! I was further invited by the MND association to run an extra mile with Kevin during his current 7 in 7 on Mon 1 December in Ipswich. I was also interviewed by Anglia TV!" Congratulations to Ethan for his amazing efforts! If you would like to support him further please click here!