A garden trimmed, a grave cleaned, a can crushed, a heap of waste paper saved from the rubbish bin or incinerator - modest tasks in themselves, maybe, but added together they make a difference. Such is the philosophy underlying the Wednesday afternoon Community Service programme at Repton.
The programme involves the majority of Sixth Form pupils, who individually opt for one among a selection of weekly activities, such as recycling, gardening, litter picking, helping in local primary schools, visiting the elderly and incapacitated. The list could be extended, but the point is that for an hour or so a week Repton pupils look outwards beyond themselves, towards a broader community where help of all kinds is always needed and is generously welcomed.
The importance of Community Service initiatives at Repton is marked by an award recognising leadership and initiative in humanitarian and community issues. Donated by a Repton parent who works for the Red Cross in Geneva, The Arch Award is presented annually, and winners so far include Nitika Agarwal, for her work promoting and supporting Amnesty International, and Thomas Ward, for assisting at a local primary school with IT and reading activities.
Commenting on the award, Headmaster Robert Holroyd says: “A good school is one that looks after the most vulnerable, so everyone has his or her own dignity. This ground-breaking award seeks to extend that principle to the wider community, including a global perspective”.
That, in a nutshell, is the rationale behind community service at Repton. Its aim is to help those who are in need of help, and to instil in pupils a sense of the importance of service to others which will stay with them as they make their own way into the broad world beyond Repton.