Charity & Community Service
Culford Charity Events
Culford Charity events are organised by a pupil-led Charities Committee. The events fall into two main categories Whole School Events and House Events. There is also an annual Sixth Form Highland Ball and the Culford Summer Fete every two years
Whole School Events
There are a number of one-off annual events, distributed throughout the school year. These include the Macmillan Coffee Morning, Culford 10km/5km Challenge (supporting Riverwalk School), Remembrance Day, Culford Charity Restaurant (Kailash Bodhi School, India), Charity Fashion Show (supporting a different charity each year), Carol Service Collection (Action for Children), Rock Music Concert (Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy) and a Variety Show (Comic Relief/Malawi Fund). There are also five Non-Uniform Days, when pupils pay £1 to wear their casual clothes. The Charities Committee selects the charities to be supported on these days.
House Events
Each House holds its own charity events, centred on the annual House Concerts. This enables pupils from each House to involve themselves in smaller projects, often supporting good causes at a local level.
Overseas Projects
Culford supports two major overseas schools’ projects, in Malawi and in India.
Malawi
Every July since 2009, a group of L6 pupils and teachers have travelled to Malawi for three weeks to carry out voluntary work in ‘the warm heart of Africa’. The work involves building classrooms and teachers’ accommodation at two village schools, providing materials and resources for several children’s homes and visiting other projects funded by the money raised by our pupils.
Mr Andrew Deane (Culford Head of Modern Languages) taught in Malawi for a number of years before coming to Culford, and his experience of Malawian culture and politics has enabled us to build strong links with one of the poorest developing countries in the world.
India
During a Culford Expedition to the Himalayas in 1999, the pupils and teachers involved visited Kailash Bodhi School in northern India. The school had been running for ten years, providing basic teaching for children of Tibetan descent who had no right to education in India. Our group stayed for a few days, helping out with teaching and general building maintenance. On their return to Culford, the pupils were keen to set up a scheme to provide regular income for Kailash Bodhi School. Several initiatives were launched, and the main contributor in the last five years has been the Charity Restaurant, held annual in November.
A theme common to both these projects is the wonderful nature of the local people involved. We see this at first-hand in Malawi and in the spectacular photographs sent to us regularly by the Head Teacher of Kailash Bodhi School.
Community Service
One of the weekly activities which pupils may elect to get involved with is Community Service where you might choose to help out in a charity shop in Bury St Edmunds or visit the elderly in a local Care and Nursing Home. This is just one of the options available in the Activities Programme.