Community Action Day 2023

Published by Seaford College on Friday 7th of July 2023

A fantastic day of community work for the whole school.

 Colleen Hayes, Charity and Community Coordinator, talks about Seaford’s 2023 Community Action Day which took place this week and involved around 900 students and staff carrying out 4,800 hours of volunteering work at over 42 venues in West Sussex, Hampshire, and Surrey.

The various activities included a travelling band playing at care homes; helping to set up a local summer fete; clearing and tidying allotments and cemeteries; and making up 400 food boxes as part of the College’s ongoing commitment to Foodbank. The College also continued its year-round relationship with the likes of St Wilfrid’s, Stonepillow, the Aldingbourne Trust and Cat Protection charities. This year, Eco Committee students also worked with Arundel Town Council on a project about recycling.

If students or staff have a connection to a particular venue such as a sports club or a care home, Colleen will try to make sure that’s where they go to help out. She also tries to match the students’ interests with the activities, such as those wanting to go into animal care volunteering at Cat Protection.

Colleen talks fondly of the strong links the College has with St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester and the carrying out of Phase 2 of the Wellbeing Gardens at the Donald Wilson Rehabilitation Centre. It was also a wonderful way of marking the 75th anniversary of the NHS, she said.

“We sent groups of students of varying ages to six different care homes, to do gardening, play music and take part in bingo games, and it was great to see the younger children learning from the older ones,” she said. “The students get so much out of visiting the residents and listening the stories they tell.

“And it was nice to see so many members of staff out and about, including John Green, our headmaster, who started the initiative back in 2013. We will be building on this throughout the year, and it’s only going to grow and grow.”

“The students and staff get a huge amount out of the day, and being able to make a difference at a time when so many organisations are feeling the pinch is very rewarding,” said Colleen. “And lot of what we do is also helping the environment.”

Thanks to everyone who supported the day, from catering and estates staff, teachers, students, parents and all the venu