Inspired by the Christian ethos of our founding by the Reverend Nathanial Woodard, and the message of the Good Samaritan that greets students each morning as they enter College grounds, Ardingly encourages students and staff to live our values of Compassion, Engagement and Collaboration by engaging in a wide range of volunteering, charitable and partnership work.
This is also an intrinsic part of the Local & Global component of World Ready.
“Leaders have thoughtfully designed opportunities for pupils to volunteer in the local community… Pupils learn about the wider world and gain a sense of service”
ISI Inspection Report, June 2024
Local Partnerships
The College runs a busy programme of local partnerships and events which seek to engage and support young people, as well as our most elderly residents in the local area. This programme includes, but is not limited to:
- Partnering with several local state primary schools to enhance their curriculum via offering initiatives such as co-curricular opportunities, maths mentoring and foreign language support
- Partnering with a local Secondary School’s English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in a ‘Students Supporting Students’ initiative
- Hosting a popular Bridging Ages Café at the College, which brings together elderly local residents with our students on a regular basis for a chat, a cup of tea and some IT support
- Volunteering in the local community, visiting care homes and working with local charities
What our students say
“After each volunteering session I came away feeling happier and more energised that I did before, as I found that talking to the residents always took my mind off school work and exam pressures.”
Alice, Sixth Form Student
“Taking part in this partnership was fantastic, I have gained so many great skills that will help me in the future and I also had the opportunity to help other students and make their day a little bit better while also making my day more enjoyable and meaningful.”
Leticia, Sixth Form Student
“Rhodes house is supporting Veerni and trying to help make as much difference as we possibly can because we truly believe that it’s a cause worth supporting and worth advocating for .”
Alex, Senior School Student
Charitable Giving
From the College’s very foundation, charitable giving has been at the heart of our community and we seek to encourage our students to recognise their privilege and actively give back to improve the lives of others.
Our approach to charitable giving is largely student-led. Each Senior School House chooses their own charity to support and fundraise for throughout the year. It has been heartening to see several deep and multi-year partnerships develop between Houses and their chosen charities.
The Houses all run several individual fundraising initiatives throughout the year, as well as participating in the Charity Fair in the Lent Term, where every House advocates for and raises awareness of their chosen charity.
Bursary Provision
From its inception to the Ardingly community we know today, philanthropy has been fundamental to the College’s growth and success. Our Founder, Nathaniel Woodard, financed his new schools from donations and subscriptions, inspiring others with his vision for education.
Today, the generosity of our community continues to help us fund life changing bursaries and we are determined to continue to widen access to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise not be able to benefit from an Ardingly education.
At Ardingly we currently have a number of students on transformational bursaries through our partnership with the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation; we have also welcomed several refugee children from Ukraine and Afghanistan in recent years. Our School Partnerships & Bursaries Coordinator works closely with those students who are on transformational bursaries to ensure that they receive the support they need to thrive at the College.
Solomiia, Sixth Form Pupil
Service Trips
Since the 1970s, Ardingly has had a strong partnership with the Langalanga Trust in Kenya, which was founded by Old Ardinian Colonel Henry Vialou Clark (MBE) to build schools and fund scholarships for young Kenyans living in economically challenging conditions.
Throughout the year, the College fundraises to support the three schools in Kenya founded by the Trust (two primary schools, Ndogo and Mwega, as well as the Woodard
Langalanga Secondary School) and every summer a group of Ardingly students and staff visit Kenya to spend two weeks working at these schools.
Solar Car Project
Ardingly has a longstanding partnership with Ifield Community College in Crawley, where a generation of students have collaborated on our Solar Car Project. A joint team of Ifield and Ardingly students have now designed and built three solar-powered vehicles. The first collaboration saw our solar-powered car race across Australia at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge just before Covid.
More recently, the project launched a STEM double-decker bus, which serves as a mobile science laboratory, with solar panels on the roof to power the experiments; the bus visits local primary schools and recently attracted 10,000 visitors at STEM in the Park.
Currently, students are building and testing a new off-road solar-powered SUV with extendable solar panelled wings, which can be used where there is no charging infrastructure – making it ideal for the developing world, where it could be used to power a small school or operating theatre.
