A culture of service

William of Wykeham’s focus on service pervades the school’s long history. Through our community relationships, pupils learn the value of service to others and broaden their life skills to bring tangible benefits to the wider community.    

Winchester's Community Service programme partners with 40 external organisations in the City of Winchester and Southern Hampshire, and involves more than 400 pupils and 50 dons. 20,000 hours of voluntary work are provided on an annual basis.

 

Current partnerships   

  • Senior pupils work alongside actors with a range of disabilities at Blue Apple Theatre, a professional theatre company which transforms lives through the performing arts. Pupils assist at rehearsals, work backstage, and help actors prepare for their bi-annual productions at Theatre Royal Winchester
  • Senior pupils volunteer on the dementia, surgical and medical wards at the Royal Hampshire Country Hospital delivering meals to patients’ bedsides and helping with meal feeding where required.
  • Senior pupils undertake weekly visits to nine local nursing homes where they develop inter-generational friendships whilst participating in a diverse range of activities. The CS Entertainers provide an eclectic range of songs, sketches and individual solo performances at the nursing homes. In addition, a CS String Quartet provides weekly entertainment for residents.
  • Senior pupils work every evening at the Winchester Beacon which supports the homeless.
  • Conservation work attracts many volunteers to the programme. Pupils volunteer regularly with Butterfly Conservation, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and other environmental organisations to achieve habitat restoration, from chalk downland to local wetlands. 
  • Pupils contribute at a number of sites including Barton Meadows where they are creating a natural meadow, clearing scrub, laying fence posts and planting native tree species. They are also undertaking habitat restoration at Clausentum Fen, a designated wildlife area managed by the Hampshire County Council Countryside Service.
  • Senior pupils volunteer weekly at the Winchester Museum, Trinity Winchester and local charity shops.

“I sing at a residence for people who have dementia. It is an honour to reawaken - through singing - the memories in others that they may have lost. Bringing a moment of healing helps with my own worries”

James