Understanding different cultures and cultivating a sensitivity to the world around you has always been the foundation of a Winchester education.
The Community Service programme, as well as various partnerships and initiatives, provide boys with many opportunities to work for the benefit of others, inside and outside the classroom.
Community service
The Community Service programme partners with more than 40 external organisations in the City of Winchester and Southern Hampshire. It involves more than 300 pupils and 50 teachers. From the end of their second year, senior boys participate in weekly forms of service in a range of environments. They understand the importance of broadening their life skills to bring tangible benefits to the wider community. Some of the partnerships include:
Local residents
- Blue Apple Theatre is a professional theatre company supporting performers with learning difficulties to develop and present theatrical productions. Senior boys volunteer at weekly rehearsals, assist with dramatic exercises, and help actors to learn lines.
- Senior boys undertake an intensive induction and training programme to work on the dementia, surgical and medical wards at the Royal Hampshire Country Hospital. Boys deliver meals to the patients’ bedsides and help with feeding for those who require assistance.
- Boys undertake weekly visits to eight local nursing homes where they develop inter-generational friendships whilst participating in a diverse range of activities. The CS Entertainers, an experienced troupe of musicians, provide an eclectic range of songs, sketches and individual solo performances at the nursing homes. Additionally, the CS Music and Dementia group visit Sunrise Nursing Home, playing string and wind instruments for residents.
- Boys undertake the washing up and assist with kitchen chores at the Winchester Churches Night Shelter kitchen. In 2017, all volunteers at the Night Shelter were acknowledged with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Boys also volunteer at Trinity Winchester, a day centre for homeless people.
- Boys assist disabled swimmers at the River Park Leisure Centre on a weekly basis.
Natural environment
- Winchester College has developed a new link with Butterfly Conservation. The aim of the project is to develop an outdoor exhibit with a 5-year lifespan, which educates visitors to the local Science Centre about wildlife found in the local area.
- Senior boys undertake weekly volunteering at Barton Meadows, a new Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust site. Boys have contributed to creating a natural meadow, clearing scrub, laying fence posts and planting native tree species.
Educational partnerships: Local primary schools
Winchester works in partnership with eight local primary schools and two special schools in the area. Senior boys visit the schools on a weekly basis and assist pupils from Years 1-6 with individual numeracy, literacy and extra-curricular skills. Partnerships include:
- Angling with Autism: Weekly fly-fishing session in the Summer Term for pupils from Osborne School. The pupils receive instruction from a qualified fly-fishing coach and are supported by Winchester boys.
- CS Jazz: Our 15-piece jazz band performs regularly to local schools.
- Drama: Year 6 pupils from All Saints Primary School spend a term working towards a theatrical production, performed in our theatre.
- Music: Year 4 pupils from All Saints Primary School receive weekly choral sessions. The pupils spend a term preparing for a public performance at mayoral and other public events.
- Rivers Project: The school has established a partnership with the Wessex Chalk Stream and Rivers Trust to deliver environmental education to Winchester schools. Over the past year, 500 pupils have participated in our Rivers Project.
- Science: Senior boys deliver a range of scientific experiments to pupils at Sparsholt Primary School in a weekly session for Year 5 and 6 pupils.
- Annual Primary Schools Concert, held at Winchester College for 400 local pupils. The School Orchestra perform an eclectic mix of contemporary and historical pieces to pupils in Year 5 and 6.
- Annual Primary Schools Wildlife Talk in partnership with the Cameron Bespolka Trust, which links children with nature. The lecture is held at the school and hundreds of local children are inspired to appreciate their environment and to engage in wildlife conservation.
- Treasury: Throughout the year the Treasury offers a range of curriculum workshops for local primary school pupils. Recent exhibitions have included Ancient Greece for KS2 pupils, entitled ‘Groovy Greeks’; and the Chinese New Year for KS1 pupils. The Treasury hosts regular exhibitions, such as the 2018 Sports Exhibition, and Primary Schools events e.g. ‘Museums Take Over Day’ when Year 6 pupils from Stanmore Primary school were invited to take over the Treasury for the day in Autumn 2018 and created their own ‘pop up’ art show inspired by the Treasury collections. The children produced artwork and spent the day framing and hanging, before showing around their parents that afternoon.
Educational partnerships: Local secondary schools
Our individual partnerships with Midhurst Rother College and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College are based on a continuing educational dialogue and a sharing of resources, personnel and opportunity. Winchester helps with practice for university interviews and tuition in maths and science. In addition to regular sports fixtures and joint activities of all kinds, each Autumn term, specialist subject dons from Winchester College contribute to Barton Peveril’s ‘Aspire’ programme by providing lectures.
Crown and Manor Club: Crown and Manor is a boys club in Hoxton, East London. The club offers a community space for boys aged 7 to 25, as well as a variety of sporting and academic activities. First started in 1903, the Club greatly expanded under the influence of two Old Wykehamists, Arthur and Harold Llewellyn Smith, and took its current name when it moved into the disused Crown public house. Now in new premises, Old Wykehamists serve on the Council and help in the homework club. Crown and Manor also play a soccer fixture at the College.
Charities
The Charities Committee is a group of seventeen Sixth Form boys led by the don in charge. The boys carry out numerous fundraising initiatives for the school’s nominated charities, including fun runs, 24 hour run, row and cycle events, calendar and cookbook sales, as well as collections after plays and concerts. Both boys and staff support an international, national and local charity for a period of three years. All charities support the education and development of young people. The current charities we support include:
- Mary's Meals – providing daily school meals to more than 1.2 million school children in some of the world’s poorest communities.
- NSPCC - the UK's leading children's charity, preventing abuse and helping those affected to recover.
- Naomi House and Jack's Place – providing hospice care for children and young people across Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Berkshire and the Isle of Wight.
We also support the Lotus Flower Trust on an ongoing basis. The charity helps to build schools, homes and centres in remote, rural and environmentally challenging areas of India. More information on the partnership can be found here.
Access - bursaries and scholarships
Winchester College is committed to maintaining the founder’s original intention of offering a Winchester education to any boy who would benefit from it, regardless of their financial circumstances.
In 2017/2018 there were more than 130 boys in receipt of bursarial support, at a cost of £3.3million. Over time, we aim to be in a position to fund the equivalent of 10% of boys on full bursaries and a further 20% on an average of half a bursary.
The bursary offered to each family is means-tested and reflects individual circumstances. To allow the widest range of pupils to attend the school, awards range from 5% to 100% of the school fee, and for those on the largest bursaries, this may include additional support for a laptop, books, exam fees or trips.
We also award Scholarships and Exhibitions for those boys with exceptional academic, musical or sporting talent. Unlike Bursaries, Scholarships and Exhibitions do not automatically carry a remission on school fees. However free individual tuition is provided for sportsmen and musicians.
Public access
Buildings & collections: One of our charitable aims is the preservation of the many ancient buildings and their contents. Winchester College maintains eighteen Grade I, six Grade II* and over seventy Grade II listed buildings. Many of these are of national importance; all are in current use. Many of these buildings are available to visit through our daily guided tours or through access to our collections and archives.
Grounds: Winchester is hugely fortunate in having extensive grounds of approximately 250 acres, including 100 acres of ancient water meadows; 4.5 miles of the River Itchen; 52 acres of playing fields and 11 acres of formal gardens. Many of the grounds maintained by the school are either a public access area, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Special Area of Conservation. The Fallodon Nature Reserve is an SSSI and the main River Itchen with its carriers is a Special Area of Conservation. St. Catherine’s Hill is a public access area and is leased to the Hampshire Wildlife Trust.
Community events
The school hosts many events and performances throughout the year, many of which are open to the public.
As the lead sponsor for Heritage Open Days in Winchester, the school aims to provide the greatest possible access to its rich heritage and exceptional collections. Each September, hundreds of visitors enjoy four days of free tours and talks.
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