All the children had a great day and were thoroughly engaged throughout. Well organised and delivered by staff who encouraged independence but provided support and guidance when necessary.
Explore Further
Service is promoted at Pangbourne as part of our Flag Value ‘Selflessness’. Our naval heritage is at the root of this commitment to serving others. Pupils get involved in a range of charitable initiatives both at the College and externally.
Outreach
We work with a number of preparatory and primary schools in our community to provide a range of enriching and engaging activities for their pupils. The Outreach programme reflects a strong belief in the benefit of educational partnerships and a long-standing commitment to sharing our resources and expertise with the local community. Just some of these are detailed below, but for more information on our Outreach programme, please contact Rachel Biggerstaff.
Primary School Outreach
Pangbourne College holds a variety of Outreach events for local Primary Schools. Various exciting activities and challenges have recently included:
A Drama workshop - The children explored their creative side and enhanced their performance techniques as they performed short scenes from Peter Pan.
An Art workshop - A special day that allowed the children to explore the extensive beautiful grounds of the College for foliage to use in clay tile printing. They also created some bunting with some stencils, which they took back to proudly display at their School.
DT Workshops - Pupils had great fun designing and creating their very own Pangbourne watch to take home. They thoroughly enjoyed getting to grips with some new tools in the DT workshop.
A Maths Challenge - Prep and Primary Schools competed against one another in a series of fun and challenging mathematical problems, which included building their very own Eiffel tower structure and launching rockets!
Bringing Science to Life - This programme provides a practical science experience for local Primary School pupils aged 8 to 11. The first session was attended by 31 pupils from Basildon Primary School and invited them to use forensic science techniques to uncover the whereabouts of Mr Garnier’s pet fish! To access the materials for this programme, please click here.
These activities have allowed many local Primary Schools to take advantage of the resources and expertise here at Pangbourne College, and for their pupils to come away with an enriched experience of those particular subjects.
School's Outreach Enquiry Form
Prep School Poetry Performance Day
Our English Department runs a hugely successful Poetry Performance Day during the Lent Term. This event is aimed at pupils in Year 5 who are passionate about poetry.
The format of the day involves a series of performance poetry activities which allows the children to develop their poetry skills and it ends with a group performance and a poetry competition between the attending Schools.
Prep Schools Sports Coaching Programme
Our Sports department invites a number of Prep Schools into the College over the course of the year to coach them in Hockey, Rugby and Netball. This is supported by our Sixth Form Pupils who have the opportunity to develop their coaching skills and be actively involved in delivering the sessions to the visiting Schools.
Thank you for the help you gave us with our drama, we really enjoyed performing the play, we got lots of good ideas for our school play and we were nervous at first but we built up our confidence with your help and enjoyed every moment.
Thank you so much for having us - the children LOVED it! [...] They have all talked about how they are more confident in tackling challenges.
The young leaders were fantastic with each group, and really encouraged the visiting children to listen carefully, communicate thoughtfully and develop their teamwork skills.
We really enjoyed our day with you, the highlight for the girls was listening to the performances of others and being able to perform in the chapel themselves. They were thrilled with their poetry books and there were also lots of appreciative noises about the cookies and their lunch too!
Thank you so much for yesterday. We had the best day and the children were buzzing all the way home.
The children had a wonderful time and loved talking about it to the rest of the class when they came back.
Partnerships
Nabugabo Community Learning Centre, Uganda
One of our key partnerships is with the Nabugabo Community Learning Centre in Uganda. Opened in 2013, the centre provides education for local children aged 3-9 who have not had previous access to schooling due to the lack of government school in the area and the price of private schooling.
Pangbourne raises funds for the school and goes to visit them to share good teaching practices. We aim to help them become a self-sufficient, sustainable school.
Past initiatives have included a Charity Night Dinner with Sir Ranulph Fiennes as a guest of honour which raised £19,000 for the school, and bi-annual trips attended by staff and Sixth Form students to build homes, run community events and teach English over a three week period.
For more details, visit our Nabugabo page.
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Programme
Pangbourne College has a longstanding partnership through the CCF with Denefield School. Denefield pupils join us for weekly activities and field days. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Defence, and pupils are able to go on courses, summer camps and mountain bike trips, thanks to our sponsorship.
The aim of the programme is to provide pupils with a brand new experience during which they will gain self-discipline, teamwork skills and achieve formal qualifications within their particular specialism. This initiative ties in closely with the College’s traditions. This year we have extended the programme to children from Denefield right up to The Upper Sixth (previously it stopped at Year 10). We are pleased to be in partnership with Denefield School to offer this CCF programme to children who may not otherwise have the opportunity.
WEC
The Whitley Excellence Cluster (WEC) is made up of 10 South Reading primary Schools across Whitley. Their mission (with the support of Aspire 2) is to empower children to access non-formal learning and enrichment activities.
During the Lent term we host an orienteering day for the WEC, which is also a great opportunity for our students to foster effective leadership skills, as they help to lead some of the groups through the Orienteering course.
Fundraising for Causes
Our community is always encouraged to get involved with our charitable endeavours including non-uniform days, cake sales and even head shaving!
Each year we collect toiletries and food for ReadiFood, raise money through the Dunbar Family Quiz, and run ‘Flowers for Friends’ where pupil-designed cards which are sold for £1 and distributed on Valentine’s Day. Our Classic Car Show, held each summer, raises money for local charities and Nabugabo.
