Community work
Volunteering at London's Community Kitchen
Around 25 Lower Sixth boys volunteer at London’s Community Kitchen in Harrow. London’s Community Kitchen have pioneered the way in their ‘Ethos of Zero Waste & Zero Hunger’. They believe it to be an absolute human right to have access to free or affordable food. Their efforts feed the most vulnerable communities across London, while at the same time avoid vast food waste which contributes to climate destruction. Boys attend three times a week. Parents and boys also volunteered during the Christmas holidays. LCK was one of the beneficiaries of the collection after 450 Carols at Westminster Cathedral.
Shaftesbury Enterprise Annual Report
Shaftesbury Enterprise encompasses all of Harrow’s philanthropic, charitable, outreach and partnership work with the charitable work of the boys making up an important part. Through Shaftesbury Enterprise, boys engage purposefully and genuinely with the local community. The 2021-22 Annual Report can be found here.
Volunteering at New Chapters
New Chapters from Langdon is a business that sells second-hand books online – with a difference.
Those who work at New Chapters are Langdon members with learning disabilities. This is usually their first step into the world of work. They learn the importance of punctuality, responsibility, hard work, and interacting within the social nature of the workplace – all skills that people in work need.
From here they gain the experience, the confidence and the self-esteem that allows them to move on to working outside the Langdon community, and to extend their independence in all aspects of their lives.
Four Sixth Formers support this work through visits to the centre every week.
Frequency: Weekly for half the year.
Volunteering at Watford Workshop
Watford Workshop is a registered charity that provides Work Experience, Skills Training and Employment for disabled and disadvantaged people, enabling them to deliver comprehensive, high quality and competitively priced services to commercial customers.
Over 50 people attend the Workshop with a range of disabilities, including learning difficulties, blind and deaf service users. There are also people with different languages and some able-bodied workers. Four Harrow Sixth Formers help support them in various capacities.
Resources: Travel to the Workshop.
Frequency: Weekly for half the year.
Mental Health project at Wiseworks
Wiseworks is a local mental health pre-vocational work centre provided by the Disability Day Services of Harrow Council For more than 25 years. The service has worked with people recovering from mental health problems by assessing their work skills, providing comprehensive work rehabilitation and arranging training at local colleges.
As a work centre, the service provides a number of work activities for those participants not ready or able to seek paid employment.
We are working with Wiseworks by sending volunteers every week and fundraising.
Aims: Support an important local organisation and educate boys in the area of mental health.
Background: Contacts of other projects.
Resources: Cost of taxis to venue.
Pupil Involvement: Four Sixth Form students.
Frequency: Weekly for half the year.
Meal for Certitude and More Than Just a Choir
We hosted around 30 service users, volunteers and staff from two local charities (Certitude and More Than Just a Choir) for a superb two course lunch cooked and served by the boys. Both are charities that work with vulnerable adults with a focus on learning difficulties and mental health issues. The boys began prepping the food at 7.30am and prepared a meal of astonishing quality, from scratch, under the guidance of Executive Chef Sylvan Chevereau and his team. This event was worked on many levels, not only did we host some wonderful people (who had a fabulous afternoon and gave the boys a standing ovation) but it was led by the boys who gained skills by working as a team in a busy kitchen. The whole process was entirely owned by Harrow School boys. Chef Chevereau and his team really enjoyed having the boys in the kitchens and serving and were very keen to do it again. The Harrovians involved did extremely well, it was a magical afternoon, the boys deserve special credit for having the vision and enthusiasm to bring it all together.
Resources: Costs were kept low as much of the food was donated free of charge.
Frequency: Once a year with more planned.
Language Café sessions at Harrow School
The Language Café welcome women whose first language is not English, but who have some knowledge of the language, to come and practise speaking. The aim is to help the women improve their confidence and fluency. The meetings are organised in a relaxed, informal way. Around ten Harrovians have attended the Language Cafe and the group have been invited up to Harrow School for a programme of tours, talks and tea. The Harrovians involved have really enjoyed spending time with the Language Café attendees. The meetings have helped the attendees to practise their spoken English but they have also helped to break down barriers and misconceptions from both sides.
Resources: One member of staff and tea for all attendees.
Pupil Involvement: Around ten Harrow Sixth Formers.
Frequency: This is a weekly, four week programme in the Easter term.
Long Ducker - fundraising run
Long Ducker remains one of the foremost events in the school calendar. It began in 1988 and has been run every year since. The annual event of running, swimming or rowing by members of the school community (every boy participates) has been responsible for raising a huge amount of money for good causes. The money is split between a nominated charity for the year, the Harrow Club and our partner organisations. The funds raised (over £300,000 over the last three years) have been used to do an enormous amount of good and have made a significant difference in the lives of those who need support.
Aims: To involve every boy in the school in fundraising and to raise money for charities and local organisations.
Background: The Long Ducker is a well established part of Harrow life and has grown enormously over the last thirty years.
Resources: This is a large-scale project, a significant amount of resources are required.
Impact: A huge amount of money has been raised for charities and local organisations.
Pupil Involvement: Every boy and teacher in the school is involved.
Frequency: Annual.
Working with the homeless - FirmFoundation
Harrow boys have been visiting drop in centres and night shelters to help Harrow’s homeless.
The Manager at FirmFoundation said:
‘FirmFoundation are so grateful for the partnership with Harrow School’s Shaftesbury Enterprise, bringing together the philanthropic principles of Lord Shaftesbury and the practical work of a homelessness charity. It is a source of deep pleasure and admiration to witness Harrovians effortlessly welcome and engage our clients who in that moment may well be experiencing their lowest ebb.’
FirmFoundation have also been the recipient of funds raised from Long Ducker (it was nominated as the main charity in 2016). As a direct consequence of this they have been able to employ extra staff which has significantly increased their capacity to assist Harrow’s rough sleepers.
Aims: To provide support to local homeless people. Not only to provide tangible benefits to some of Harrow's most vulnerable local people but also to broaden the horizons of Harrovians to gain a greater understanding of the issue of homelessness.
To raise funds for FirmFoundation.
Background: FirmFoundation was selected as the Long Ducker charity in 2016 and the project with the drop in centres and night shelter has grown from this.
Resources: Night shelters and drop in centres - none apart from staff and student time to attend.
Long Ducker - whole school project, see Long Ducker section.
Impact: The boys have clearly been moved by their work with FirmFoundation and staff have also helped. The School Chaplain (also Vicar of St Mary's) has arranged for St Mary's Church to provide hot meals for the night shelter as part of the monthly rota.
Around £50,000 was raised for FirmFoundation through Long Ducker. This allowed them to employ more staff and increase their capacity.
A sleepout to raise further funds are now an annual event.
Pupil Involvement:
- Drop in and Night Shelter: Sixth form only - 2/4 boys.
- Long Ducker fundraising - every boy in the school.
Frequency: Weekly during winter timetable (November until start of March).
Service in the Community Programme
Every Monday during term time, around 30 boys are engaged in projects serving the wider Harrow community.
We have a group of boys who visit Thomas Hewlett House, the Sudbury Neighbourhood Centre, Mayfield Residential Home, and Manor Lodge. Thomas Hewlett House provides sheltered accommodation for the elderly, the Sudbury Neighbourhood Centre is a community-based charity running an adult day centre for older residents living in the Brent, Ealing and Harrow areas, and Mayfield Residential Home and Manor Lodge are nursing homes for the elderly. The boys help with a variety of tasks including organising social activities, providing music, serving teas, reminiscing and we have seen a few of the boys dancing – indeed one of the residents remarked that one of the boys “made her feel like she was on Strictly Come Dancing”.
Other boys go off in pairs to visit the housebound in the local area. The boys help with domestic chores, shopping, basic gardening and paperwork. One of the ladies that two boys visit recently wrote to say that she, “just wouldn’t be able to manage without the visits. The boys not only help with the odd jobs in the house, but they also put a smile on my face every week. You should be very proud of them.”
We also provide three opportunities a year to get all of our beneficiaries together. We welcome them to the Hill in early December for Town Carols in Speech Room, in the spring we host a Sunday afternoon tea, and in the summer we take them on a riverboat cruise on the Thames. You know you’re onto something good when diaries are brought out at the end to confirm the date for the next event.
The team of masters who help supervise the various projects can confirm that they see a transformation in the boys. They are more outward looking, caring and considerate. It just goes to show that giving up time for others, especially if we are busy, is mutually rewarding.
Recent additions to the programme are: Foodbank (11 Harrovians have been helping to load donations and stocktake at Harrow Foodbank); Livability (a group of around 8 boys visit a local residential home for the disabled and adults who need support, to talk, play music and entertain) and Certitude (around 5 boys visit a residential centre for adults with learning difficulties, delivering a programme of practical work around and entertainment).
Aims: To provide help for individuals and institutions in the neighbourhood of the Hill. However there is a dual purpose, the second and equally important part being an educational process for the boys concerned. These overriding principles led Community Service to grow and last year it moved under the umbrella of Shaftesbury Enterprise.
Background: Projects are established through recommendations and contacts of members of staff.
Resources: Around 6 staff and 30 boys. Transport to many of the locations.
Impact: When the boys go out on Monday afternoons, they are frequently asked – as people habitually ask on a Monday – how their weekend was. Yet the boys at Harrow do not have a usual weekend, rather their weekend is jam-packed with sporting fixtures, trips, school socials, house events, not to mention completing prep for the week ahead. So when it comes to Monday afternoon, one might not expect a teenage boy to be so keen and enthusiastic to give up their time at all, and more so for the service of others. However, this would do a great disservice to those boys who do, and time and time again we receive heartening feedback telling us how well they do it.
And we should not be surprised. Research confirms that volunteering is enormously valuable not only for the beneficiaries of volunteer projects, but also for the volunteers who generously donate their time and energy to these worthwhile projects. The NHS recommends volunteering as a healthy way to boost self-confidence, develop new skills, build new relationships and play an active role in one’s local community. We find that our boys get more out of volunteering than they put into it. Indeed many of our Fifth Form boys ask to continue volunteering when they are in the Sixth Form. One of the Lower Sixth boys commented that “volunteering gives me a sense of perspective and I just love the people I get to meet”.
Pupil Involvement: Around 30 pupils from Year 11 and above.
Frequency: Weekly throughout the year with some weekends.