We are committed to ensuring that, alongside our confident, bright and kind pupils, we play an integral role in the local community through partnerships with local organisations. It is vital that, by means of service, volunteering and charitable endeavour, our young people understand something of the world beyond UCS and the bigger issues therein.
As a school, we continue to benefit from collaboration with a number of partnership schools in the maintained sector and value very much the opportunities for sharing resources, ideas and initiatives with colleagues and pupils at these schools.
All Year 12 and 13 pupils can spend one afternoon a week working in a partnerships project – including primary, specialist and secondary schools.
Over 2,400 state school pupils are reached annually through long-term partnerships with local primary and secondary schools.
Altogether, the UCS student body readily offers up more than 10,000 hours in voluntary work with local organisations every year.
The Nobel Laureate Lecture Series is an enriching event for UCS pupils and partner school students to celebrate a specific academic field.
Pupil-led initiatives
Most of our charity work is done through pupil-led initiatives, typically raising over £50,000 a year. The majority of this fundraising occurs in November and December – a six-week period that we refer to as ‘Community Action’. Pupils nominate eight charities – usually a combination of local and international enterprises – to receive whatever money is generated.
Representatives of these charities come to explain their work, while our pupils shape the overall direction of the project by taking charge of organising and delivering the many fundraising activities under staff supervision. In doing so, they develop skills in event management, public speaking, marketing, publicity, accountancy and catering.
Recent beneficiaries of Community Action include: Macmillan Cancer Support, Secondary 1st, Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation, Malala Fund, Choose Love, the British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal, Child Poverty Action Group, and the Pakistan Floods Appeal. The passion our pupils have for such causes is astonishing.
Another eye-catching initiative is the Foundation-wide collection for North Paddington Food Bank. This is an annual affair, taking place every autumn and organised by pupils from one of the school’s Houses or Demes.
Every charitable endeavour at UCS is oversubscribed: from annual volunteering trips, to the food collection programme and mentoring initiatives to support disadvantaged or disabled children at other schools in the local area.
Working with partner schools
Our partnerships work with local primary and secondary schools continues to bear fruit – and for pupils and staff alike, this abundance includes various opportunities to work with their peers and fellow practitioners at partner institutions. Typically, UCS pupils teach or mentor younger children at local schools, while both staff and students get the chance to participate in collaborative or exchange schemes designed to broaden their education and experience.
- Maths Mentoring: Year 11 pupils dedicate early Friday mornings to guiding primary school children through challenging mathematical questions at ad-hoc Maths clubs.
- Co-Curricular Collaboration: UCS and LAE have shared a co-curricular programme for Year 12s, centred on staff and student exchange and covering diverse topics.
- Immersion Days: local primary school children are invited to UCS in the Summer Term to experience a range of academic sessions in subjects such as Languages, Social Science and STEM.
- Summer School: UCS holds an annual summer school in July which hosts around 200 pupils from a number of different primary schools in the local area.