Love your neighbour as you love yourself – The Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – Compassion.
Caritas
An important part of life at St Swithun’s is learning to relate to, regard and treat other people as equals, whoever they are and whatever their circumstances. It is our desire to inspire and encourage all girls to acts and attitudes of compassion. We very much value our links with the local and wider community. Our public benefit activity includes:
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Educational partnerships Fundraising
Service to the community Sharing facilities
Widening access
Bursaries have been awarded over the past year at a cost of £1,287,035 (7.6% of fee income) to some 61 pupils, of which 27 were 100% of fees. In order to truly widen access, bursaries are available to cover both fees and other necessary expenses appropriate for a pupil at the school. We also provide 23 scholarships for girls to St Katherine’s School, Lira, Uganda. To learn how you can support us, read about our Bramston Bursary Fund.
State school partnerships
We have a number of educational partnerships with local primary schools with tuition, transport and facility costs for these covered by St Swithun’s.
Partnerships include:
Oliver’s Battery Primary School
- Over 30 pupils from Oliver’s Battery visit St Swithun’s each week for academic enrichment sessions (maths, science, French, art or drama) led by St Swithun’s staff and pupils.
- Pupils from St Swithun’s to visit Oliver’s Battery to deliver weekly individual reading support to 20 pupils.
- 35 pupils from Oliver’s Battery visit St Swithun’s for weekly swimming lessons.
- This activity benefits 120 pupils from Oliver’s Battery each year.
All Saints Primary School
- Over 30 pupils from All Saints visit St Swithun’s for weekly drama enrichment sessions, led by St Swithun’s staff and pupils.
- Pupils from St Swithun’s visit All Saints deliver weekly individual reading support to 20 pupils.
- St Swithun’s pupils volunteer at All Saints, helping with pre-term preparations.
- The Head of Outdoor Learning at St Swithun’s Prep School is working with her counterpart at All Saints to develop All Saints’ outdoor learning programme.
Winnall Primary School
- Over 30 pupils from Winnall visit St Swithun’s for weekly academic enrichment sessions (science) led by St Swithun’s staff and pupils.
- Pupils from St Swithun’s to visit Winnall to deliver weekly individual reading support
- St Swithun’s pupils volunteer at Winnall, helping with pre-term preparations.
Sun Hill Primary School
- 60 pupils from Sun Hill Primary School Battery visit St Swithun’s for weekly swimming lessons
Four Marks Primary School
- 60 pupils from Four Marks have the use of St Swithun’s swimming pool for weekly swimming lessons.
Itchen Abbas Primary School
- Pupils from Itchen Abbas benefit from visits from a St Swithun’s member of staff to teach Greek.
St Faith’s Primary School
- Year 5 and 6 pupils from St Faith’s benefit from visits from a member of St Swithun’s staff to teach philosophy.
Holiday Clubs for Primary School Pupils
- In conjunction with Winchester City Penguins Swimming Club, we run holiday swimming tuition and activity programmes based at St Swithun’s for children from the Winnall and Highcliffe areas who receive pupil premium funding. We run 10 of these days each year with over 30 children attending each day free of charge.
Science in a Suitcase
- We have created “Science in a Suitcase” – a portable science resource available for local primary schools to borrow which will enable their staff to deliver practical science sessions to pupils in their own schools.
Sporting partnerships
- We have developed a partnership with Energise Me to support the provision of sport to young people in Hampshire. This includes hosting primary school sports competitions and the #This Girl Can conference at St Swithun’s. This positively impacts over 300 young people a year.
- We also host an annual cross-country championship for Hampshire schools, involving over 400 athletes.
Educational partnerships and shared teaching resources
Members of St Swithun’s teaching staff undertake the following volunteer work:
- Deliver critical thinking skills and philosophy workshops for two local primary schools
- Organise a debating collaboration with local state schools
- 4 staff act as a governors for local state schools
- Act as an educator for the Holocaust Educational Trust, undertaking both outreach programmes in state schools and taking groups of students to Auschwitz.
- Provide weekly one-to-one reading support in local primary schools
- Organise and host:
- the following academic conferences for local state schools: classics, theology and languages, classics, history and archaeology, archaeology and anthropology
- a Winchester philosothon competition for all local state schools
- a biennial GAP Fair and Careers Fair which is open to pupils from the local community
- an annual ‘Meet the Scientist’ event which is open to local sixth form colleges
- an annual festival involving over 300 pupils and visitors from local state schools and organisations
- Oxbridge talks for pupils from local state schools which run twice a year.
- a series of lectures throughout the year featuring high profile visiting speakers which are attended by local schools and organisations free of charge.
- Widen access to philosophy in local state schools through fellowship of the RSA.
- Provide mentoring for PGCE undergraduates and NQTs
- Regularly provide work experience/observation days for students from Winchester University
- Share CPD opportunities with staff from the local states schools, including:
- inviting staff from local colleges to attend conferences
- organising CPD sessions free of charge for local primary school teachers
- welcoming over 20 teaching assistants from local primary schools to a Teaching Assistants course.
- Our minibuses and drivers are used throughout the year to transport local primary school pupils and staff to academic and sporting events.
Mathematics Hub
St Swithun’s has developed a reputation as a hub for mathematical activities within the region, and regularly hosts teachers from schools to discuss mathematical and ICT-related topics.
Biennially we run the Regional Final of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge, hosting 24 state and independent schools. We also host the 2-day UKMT Maths Circle for up to 50 gifted and talented Year 10 students from local state/independent schools.
St Swithun's hosts an annual Maths Inspiration event, consisting of mathematical talks which attracts hundreds of young mathematicians from local state schools and colleges.
Our head of mathematics is committed to supporting UKMT, the non-profit organisation which runs UKMT Maths Challenges, Team Maths Challenges and Olympiads. He writes questions for various UKMT competitions and is in charge of the marking of the Year 9 Olympiad nationally.
Service to the community
All year 10 pupils visit local nursing homes each week for a term and our sixth form pupils and staff host an annual afternoon tea party for a group from Contact the Elderly.
Pupils undertake 1742 hours of volunteering as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. Beneficiaries include Riding for the Disabled, Winchester Nightshelter, Oxfam, Abbeygate Care Home and the EdClub Movement.
Each year, Year 11 pupils take part in a Community Service week in the summer term supporting Unit 12, a local community centre in Winnall.
Sixth form girls take part in The National Citizenship Service each summer.
Our Performing Arts Centre manager provides technical advice, guidance and support to the Chesil Theatre, Winchester.
Every year, the whole school participates in a Harvest festival collection for the Basics Bank and Nightshelter charities
Pupils regularly volunteer at Winchester NCT events, helping them to raise money for this charity.
Sharing facilities
Each year we share our facilities at a discounted charitable rate with a number of local organisations and charities which have included:
Alresford Community Choir
Cerebral Palsy Swimming Gala
Click Sargent
Easton & Martyr Worthy Cricket Club
England Lacrosse
Goalball
Hampshire County Council Children’s Services Department
Hampshire County Youth Band
Hampshire Music Service
Hampshire Ornithological Society
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance
Leigh House Hospital
Local historic churches group
St Cross Symondians Cricket Club
Walking with the Wounded
Winchester City Penguins Swim Club
Winchester Girl Guides Division
Winchester Hospice
Winchester Women’s Refuge
Fundraising
Overall, the school community raises an average of £23,000 for three nominated charitable organisations during the year. Speakers of these charities visit and speak to pupils and all fundraising events throughout the year support these causes. School charities for 2019/20 are Kids for Kids, The Tara Scougall RNLI appeal, Allegra’s Ambition and the Maiden Factor.
In addition, our staff have supported the Women’s Refuge and Naomi House
In the last year, pupils and staff at St Swithun’s Junior School have supported the Borne Charity, Children In Need, Southampton Children’s Hospital, Save the Children, Nordoff Robins, Trinity Hospice, Sport Relief, The NSPCC and Help for Heroes.
All Year 9 pupils embark on The Big Give – a philanthropy five week course which donates over £2000 to a range of charities, researched and chosen by the girls.
During the year, pupils also served as volunteers at some major charity events, including a Jack Whitehall concert to raise money to establish a hospice in Winchester and a celebrity Carol concert in London raising money for Kids for Kids
The school responds to international emergencies with collections of supplies and essential items, and supports other charities with special collections. This year, projects have included collections of food for the local Basics Bank, Christmas presents for the families of our local refuge, and Christmas Boxes sent through FCSI to poor children in Eastern Europe.
