On Tuesday 10 December, all pupils and staff from Sedbergh School undertook a full day’s work for various charities and local communities as part of their outreach initiative.
The Headmaster, Mr Dan Harrison, introduced a bold and creative initiative in 2018 to help prevent pupils becoming stifled by the sense of privilege and entitlement. The usual end of term trips and excursions were cancelled and replaced by a day of charitable activity for the benefit of others. Each Boarding House chooses its own project to contribute to the School’s endeavour to give something back to the wider community.
Pupils provided support at nearby conservation sites in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Park, contributed large donations to food banks and homeless shelters, helped build a wheelchair accessible assault course at Bendrigg Trust, visited Doncaster to help clean up after the recent floods and supplied St John’s Hospice with 500 mince pies for their ‘Light up a Life’ services.
Sedbergh School runs numerous community outreach projects throughout the academic year which include local conservation projects within the Yorkshire Dales National Park and every week, 50 pupils provide voluntary service across a wide range of local services. In October, Sedbergh was recognised for it’s community work by being awarded the Community Outreach award at the Independent Schools of the Year awards.
Mr Dan Harrison has said: “I am very proud of the way that we gave back as a School. To have 9 different projects all around the North, helping out a variety of organisations is the right thing to do and makes our pupils think about the true meaning of Christmas.”
