Charity and volunteering

At the start of each academic year, the whole school votes to select the annual school charity and fundraises throughout the subsequent year.

Led by the Charity prefect and a group of Sixth Form charity reps, students are encouraged to take the initiative with fundraising. Recent fundraising activities have included everything from quiz nights, bake sales and a lolly stand at Sports Day, to a highly competitive ‘2p race’ at the School’s annual founders’ celebration, St Kate’s Day.

In 2022-23, we raised £9,946 in aid of Aspire – an Oxfordshire-based charity dedicated to supporting local people facing homelessness, poverty and disadvantage. A particular fundraising highlight was a charity play that saw teachers – including the Headmistress – star in a special, comical rendition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves written by two Lower Sixth students.

“We are absolutely blown away by the spirit of enterprise, generosity and kindness demonstrated by the students at St Helen and St Katharine with this incredible fundraising success. The donation will contribute towards our ‘Action Inspires Hope’ appeal to enable us to step up our emergency response to rising homelessness in communities across Oxfordshire. Thank you!”
Paul Roberts, CEO of Aspire

In 2021-22, we raised £12,319 for the UK Sepsis Trust – a charity that raises awareness of the signs of sepsis and helps to stop thousands of preventable deaths from the condition. In the same year, we also raised over £2,400 for the British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal and sent donations out to those affected by the war.

In 2020-21, we raised over £11,000 with our St Kate’s Day and Christmas fundraising activities alone for Young Lives Against Cancer, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people.

“On behalf of all of us at CLIC Sargent: THANK YOU SO MUCH! We are absolutely honoured to be your chosen charity of the year and we stand proudly by your side while you say to your peers facing cancer ‘YOU ARE NOT ALONE’. The funds raised could pay for more than 160 hours of one-to-one support to young people and their families dealing with cancer by a CLIC Sargent Social Worker providing emotional support and practical advice desperately needed at times. Thank you again so much, we think you are all superstars!”
Young Lives Against Cancer representative

Eswatini volunteering

Biannually a team of Year 11 and Lower Sixth students travel to spend time volunteering in Eswatini, Africa, with Sense Earth. Students’ projects include building a care home, renovating school buildings, creating playgrounds for children, and constructing new classrooms from raw materials including making bricks.